The Doctor Who Universe: 2005-2010
2005
Series 5
On January 1st 2005, Part Two of ‘The End of Time’ aired on BBC One. It was the end of an era for Doctor Who as Showrunner Russell T Davies and the Tenth Doctor actor Michael French left at the end of a climatic two parter which drew in 13.30 million viewers with an appreciation index of 90, but a question was on the minds of the fans: Could the show survive under new leadership?
When Steven Moffat agreed to become Doctor Who showrunner, his thoughts quickly shifted to shaping his first season of the show. After Sarah Parish left in Journey’s End and Michael French decided not to stay on for Series 5, it became clear Moffat’s new era would be with an entirely new cast.
Every season of Doctor Who had a loose story arc, however this time it was decided to have the arc be less subtle than recent years.
With Michael French deciding not to return, Moffat eventually began searching for his Doctor. He settled
on Richard Coyle who’d worked with Moffat previously on his sitcom Coupling, Coyle’s incarnation of the Doctor is a charmingly chaotic genius, blending boyish mischief with a deep well of sorrow. His scruffy, unpolished look mirrors his unpredictable, whirlwind approach to problem-solving, often rushing into danger with a confident grin, only to improvise his way out. He thrives on the thrill of adventure and puzzle-solving, but beneath his buoyant exterior, there's a simmering guilt about the consequences of his past actions.
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Two new companions were created for the new era, Moffat decided that the new companions would be a couple from Llandaff. The companions were Claire Morton and Mark Baxter, the companions would join in the opening story however Mark wouldn’t join on as a regular companion in that story, but he would later in the earlier part of the season.
Moffat eventually cast Lucy Davis in the role of Claire Morton, Davis was already known at this point as she’d already been in the comedy series The Office. Moffat then had to find an actor for Mark Baxter, Moffat later settled on Ace Bhatti. Bhatti had already been in Cardiac Arrest, Holding On and NCS: Manhunt, Moffat casted these two actors as they both had experience and Moffat liked what they brought into the characters during the audition phase.
With a new team joining in front of the camera, a new production team was assembled. Nicola Shindler left as producer before the season started, so Phil Collinson joined the show. Matthew Robinson left as Head of Drama at BBC Wales and was replaced by Julie Gardner and Mal Young stayed on as Executive Producer, it would be his fifth and final season.
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For the new era we would have a new title sequence and logo, the logo would replace the oval-shaped logo and would be more simple. Also a new TARDIS exterior and interior were designed, the exterior is very much like the RTD TARDIS exterior from 2005-10. The interior would be more grand than before with stairs and different rooms, both the exterior and interior would be designed by the new production designer Edward Thomas.
A new theme for the show would be needed for the new era and Steven Moffat asked Murray Gold to stay on for the new era, to which he did.
The Eleventh Hour
By Steven Moffat
This story would start with Claire and Mark walking down their street after a night out, they’re really happy but then they see something falling into their garden. They find the TARDIS and the doors open to large amounts of smoke where the new Doctor emerges, wearing the old Doctor's torn and tattered clothes. He starts talking about bacon, chocolate, biscuits and tea, Claire and Mark offer for him to stay and when they go to bed the Doctor tries to adjust to his new body, he then sees himself in the mirror and calls himself “lick-the-mirror handsome.” To which he then licks the mirror, he then makes himself fish fingers and custard and starts to remember past events and companions. He also investigates a crack in Claire and Mark’s wall.
We then see when everyone is asleep, the crack glows and a figure emerges and escapes the house. A man approaches it in the street and when he makes contact with it he becomes possessed with glowing blue eyes and mouth. The man who was possessed would then go round possessing other people and it turns out the alien possessing people is called a ‘Phantasm’, a race of spectral beings who posses and multiply physically via touch, but the Doctor would end up stopping them releasing some of the humans but some would end up being killed by the Phantasm. At the end of the story, Mark would say goodbye to the Doctor in the village and tells him that Claire is in the house if he wants to say goodbye. However as the Doctor is about to say goodbye he notices the TARDIS has changed, he opens it and is immediately happy with the new design of the TARDIS. Claire enters and is amazed as she says goodbye to the Doctor, however she accidentally pushes the Dematerialisation lever and the TARDIS sets off.
The Plague City
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor attempts to return Claire home but instead they land on a City StarShip where a new plague is discovered and the researchers are experimenting on people, the Doctor is disgusted by this and the consequences see the infected start to attack innocent people. However the Doctor saves the day when he finds a cure and gets it dupilcated throughout the city.
The Genocide Machine
By Mike Tucker
Whilst trying to return Claire home, the TARDIS lands on Kar-Charrat and is the Doctor reunited with his old friend, Elgin, who proclaimed to have warded off some Dalek attacks. However, the Daleks had never left, and had used time corridor technology to deploy hidden Dalek pods on every planet in the sector to wait for a time-sensitive to revive them.
After a duplicate of a captured Claire infiltrated the base and successfully downloaded the collective knowledge of the entire universe into a Dalek test subject, who went out of control, the Doctor ventured on to the planet's surface, and discovered that the famous Kar-Charrat ziggurat was a Dalek pod.
The Doctor was then forced to surrender to the Daleks to ensure Claire's safety, and was connected to the Wetworks so his mind could be used to process the data.
While he appeared to be killed in the process to the Daleks, the Doctor's mind was absorbed into the Wetworks, where he made contact with the Kar-Charratans, natives enslaved by Elgin in order to enable the Wetworks to function, and promised to set them free.
Aided by the Kar-Charratans, the Doctor escaped the Daleks with Claire, Elgin, Bev Tarrant, and Prink, but they were intercepted by the duplicate Claire, who threatened to kill Elgin, but was destroyed by Prink's sacrifice.
With Claire pretending to be her own duplicate to get past the Daleks, the Doctor proceeded to the Wetworks with the intention of destroying it.
At the facility, the Doctor witnessed the Dalek test subject and the Dalek Supreme arguing, due to the test subject having obtained a conscience and refusing to obey the Dalek Supreme's order to destroy the facility. Leaving after deeming their mission a failure, the Supreme Dalek left the Special Weapons Dalek to kill the test subject, but the facility was destroyed by an explosion before it could, the explosion also freeing the Kar-Charratans.
Normal Life
By Gareth Roberts
After the Doctor and Claire arrive back in Llandaff and reunite with Mark, the TARDIS dematerialises leaving the Doctor stranded. the Doctor stays with Claire and Mark as he tries to adapt to a normal, human life – He doesn’t do very well. Another plot would see an alien rodent called a Zerbinik terrorise Llandaff, every time a Zerbinik eats something it grows larger and in the end it becomes a giant. But the Doctor manages to defeat it, Claire and Mark then ask the Doctor if they can come with him and at first he declines but he realises he can’t be alone so he let’s them come with him, once the TARDIS is back.
Creatures of Beauty
By Nicholas Briggs
After causing a collision with a Koteem ship, the Doctor, Claire and Mark land on Veln and discover dyestrial poisoning in the atmosphere. The Doctor goes to warn the locals, but Claire and Mark are arrested for murder. The Doctor breaks them out of custody and discovers that the Koteem and Forleon were creating hybrids to prolong both their races. They leave the planet not knowing that all their problems were because of the things the Doctor caused.
LIVE 34
By James Parson & Andrew Stirling-Brown
The Doctor, Claire and Mark arrive on Colony 34, the Doctor discovers a conspiracy involving the government and decides to run for president. The reigning leader is trying to avoid an election for fear of losing, and is using his power to stage terrorist attacks and discredit the parties that stood against him.
After faking his own death, Claire and Mark help the Doctor to expose everything the government had been trying to keep secret, including the deaths of colonists whose bodies were used as fuel.
Scream of The Shalka
By Paul Cornell
The TARDIS landing back in Llandaff as Claire would like to visit her mum but the Doctor later realises that something is wrong and they realise that the town has been closed off for weeks due to an alien race known as the Shalka, they live underground near where lava meets metamorphic rock, breathing in the volcanic air. The Shalka attempt to destroy the surface of Earth but the Doctor is able to stop them.
The Kingmaker
By Jonathan Clements
The TARDIS land on the planet Kalava which was colonised by humans and is ruled by two sets of warring gods, the Flesh who favour evolution through genetic evolution and the Metal which favour evolution through artificial needs, we would see Claire be kidnapped and the Doctor and Mark would have to save her from a sacrifice with the help of a young genetic clone of the ageing god king to which they do.
The Cave of Angels
By Steven Moffat
Elara Deacon, played by Jenna Russell, a woman from the Doctor’s future, summons him, Claire and Mark
to help her, Father Octavian, and his group of militarised clerics destroy a Weeping Angel on the site of the crashed ship Byzantium on the planet Alfava Metraxis. It is revealed that all statues in the stone labyrinth where the ship has crashed are Angels, and are gaining strength from radiation leaking from the ship. As the Angels surround the group and several clerics are revealed to be dead, the Doctor shoots the gravity globe above them and tells everyone to jump.
Flesh and Stone
By Steven Moffat
The group lands on the outside of the Byzantium, having been pulled there by the ship's artificial gravity. A crack similar to the one in Claire's bedroom appears inside the ship. The Doctor discovers that the crack, which erases people and things from existence, was caused by a forthcoming event. As the gravity fails, the Weeping Angels fall into the crack.
Medicinal Purposes
By Robert Moss
The TARDIS fell through a time barrier to 1828 Edinburgh, where Robert Knox, a time travelling showman, was manipulating the timeline of the William Burke and Billy Hare murders to profit from a viewing audience of alien businessmen while ostensibly finding a cure for an alien race which was dying from flu at the same time. The Doctor brought one of the murder victims, Daft Jamie, who was infected with the virus, out of the barrier to January 1829, and tricked him into infecting Knox, who had no resistance and was unable to reset time to undo the infection, forcing Knox to escape in his own TARDIS. Putting time back on track, the Doctor brought Jamie back into his TARDIS, and dropped him off a few yards away from where Burke and Hare would murder him.
Pandora’s Box
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor, Claire and Mark in the TARDIS discussing recent off-screen adventures, the TARDIS soon dematerialises but it’s taken off course. They find themselves on an old, abandoned space vessel, the Doctor explains that it’s a colony ship and it could fit thousands of people. However the three of them soon bump into Elara Deacon who tells the trio that she’s investigating the ship as time anomalies are detected on the ship, Landon then tells the Doctor that the anomalies are related to the legends of Pandora’s Box. The Doctor tells him that it’s just a myth but Landon says that they shouldn’t be so quick to judge, the four of them then investigate the ship and to the Doctor’s surprise they find Pandora’s Box
and The Tempus Triumvirate, a group of three powerful men called Mr. Finch, Mr. Boyd and Mr. Webb.
The Doctor then inspects the Box further and realises that it’s Time Lord technology and it’s a prison TARDIS, the Doctor tries to take it from them but Mr. Finch punches him to the floor and holds everyone at gunpoint. The box is then opened and beings of light, taking the form of humanoids, emerge and the Doctor recognises them as ‘The Luminalis’ and he explains they have the ability to reshape time in their own image. The story ends with a crack appearing in space and the Doctor telling everybody that time is now being ripped apart.
The Crack in Time
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor, Claire, Mark and Elara get back to the TARDIS, the Doctor now explains that the TARDIS is the only safe place left in the universe and because the Luminalis is free it means that time is being ripped open, this also means that very soon the Web of Time will practically be non-existent. The TARDIS then
lands on Earth and he discovers that the planet is now one single historical event, every historical event is now happening all at once. We would see the Doctor trying to find a solution and trying to build a machine and he thinks that it could save everything, however it ends up being destroyed by a Luminalis as they are now on Earth. The Doctor then goes back to the colony ship and realise that the resolution lies within Pandora’s Box, he finds a restoration field within the box and programmes it to fly into the crack which will therefore create a second big bang, imprison all of the Luminalis once again, close the cracks and restore the time and the universe. The Doctor reprogrammes it and it flys into the crack and the screen turns white and then everything returns back to normal before the Luminalis were free, the Tempus Triumvirate are teleported to a prison ship by Elara and The Doctor, Claire and Mark return to the TARDIS where Claire and Mark wish to stay in Llandaff for a while. The Doctor arrives a few months later for Claire and Mark’s wedding, Later, Elara tells the Doctor that he will soon find out who she is, before teleporting away and the TARDIS dematerialises.
A Christmas Carol
By Steven Moffat
A space liner containing 4,000 people and Claire and Mark on their honeymoon becomes caught in an
electrified cloud. The Doctor, summoned by Claire, lands on the planet beneath and discovers that the atmosphere is controlled by the miserly Kazran Sardick, who refuses to let the ship safely land. The Doctor travels back to Kazran's youth and attempts to alter his past to make him kinder, spending time adventuring with young Kazran and a young woman named Abigail, who was released from a cryogenic chamber as her singing abilities calm the sharks which occupy the atmosphere. However, Abigail was suffering from an incurable disease, and Kazran grows up bitter that she cannot be let out again or she will die; but the Doctor shows Kazran's younger self what he would become and he decides to release the ship. Unfortunately, Kazran's personality has changed too much for the atmosphere controls to recognise him, and the Doctor must convince Kazran to release Abigail so she can sing and calm the atmosphere, and the two enjoy their last time together.
Series 5 of Doctor Who received positive reviews from critics and the two-part finale ended up winning a Hugo Award, a fourth win for a Steven Moffat script. Richard Coyle was praised as the Doctor and was a fan favourite, with Lucy Davis and Ace Bhatti also receiving praise. However, unlike the years previously, Doctor Who and the lead actor didn’t win a single NTA award. From 2001-04, Doctor Who won 10 NTA awards, four for best show, two for best actress and four for best actor with Michael French winning three consecutive awards. 2005’s NTAs saw Bad Girls, Shane Ritchie and Jessie Wallace of EastEnders win the awards.
The Sarah Jane Mysteries - Series 4: 2005
Series Four of the Sarah Jane Mysteries was the first season for Russell T Davies as the showrunner, after he’d left Doctor Who handing off the show to Steven Moffat, Davies decided to take on the showrunner job for this show after Jed Mercurio decided to leave. All the original cast members returned for this series, with the show airing in late 2005.
Matthew Robinson, however, left after Series 3 and Julie Gardner took over alongside Jane Tranter.
Aliens of London
By Russell T Davies
Sarah, Ashley, Tom and Mike witness a spaceship crash into Big Ben and fall into the River Thames. Sarah suspects this is a trick and discovers that the ship was launched from Earth, and that the pilot is a pig,
modified by alien technology. The Prime Minister cannot be located, and is replaced by Joseph Green, while Margaret Blaine and Oliver Charles, other high-ranking members of the government, are also called. The group is revealed to be the Slitheen, an alien family who have compressed themselves into human "suits".
World War 3
By Russell T Davies
Sarah learns that the Slitheen are not invading Earth, but rather raiding it for commercial profit. The Slitheen claim there is a threat to the world's security and request that the United Nations release the nuclear activation code, so they can strike down a nonexistent ship supposedly hovering over London. Sarah speculates they will fire at other countries and start World War III, which the Slitheen respond in the affirmative, explaining that they will sell the irradiated remains of Earth as cheap spaceship fuel. Meanwhile, another Slitheen breaks into Mike's flat where he uses acetic acid in vinegar to destroy it. Sarah helps Tom and Mike to fire a non-nuclear missile at 10 Downing Street to destroy the Slitheen gathered there. Sarah, Ashley, and MP Gordon Lawson manage to hide in a reinforced room and survive. Meanwhile, Mike has earned Tom's trust and they start to bond, with Sarah saying that he can now join them on their mission to keep Earth safe.
The Temptation of Sarah Jane
By Gareth Roberts
Under the Trickster’s command, Krislok tricks Sarah Jane and Ashley into traveling through a time fissure to 1951, the day Sarah Jane’s parents abandoned her before dying in a car crash. Ignoring Ashley’s warning, she sabotages their car to stop them from leaving, altering the timeline. When they return to the present, London is in ruins and the Trickster appears, thanking Sarah Jane for enabling his rise.
Meanwhile, the Verron puzzle box activates, transporting Tom and Mike to an alternate present where the Trickster conquered Earth in 1951. Humanity is enslaved, and Krislok, bound to serve the Trickster, refuses to help, until Mike offers him the puzzle box in exchange for aid.
In the past, Sarah Jane’s parents overhear Ashley and realise their deaths will prevent disaster. They choose to sacrifice themselves, thwarting the Trickster’s plan. Restoring the timeline, Mike gives Krislok the box, granting him freedom.
Enemy of The Bane
By Russell T Davies and Gary Russell
Mrs Wormwood, now a fugitive from the Bane following her failed invasion of Earth, is searching for the
body of Horath, an ancient immortal cyborg whose consciousness was split and hidden at opposite ends of the galaxy. She deceives Sarah Jane and her friends into locating the portal to Horath’s body, while secretly working with the disgraced Sontaran, Commander Kaagh, who holds Horath’s mind.
With help from Sarah Jane’s old friend, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, she and Ashley break into UNIT’s Black Archive to retrieve the Tunguska scroll, which reveals the location of the Neolithic stone circle that leads to Horath’s dimension. When the Bane track Wormwood to Sarah Jane’s home, Kaagh and Wormwood kill them. Kaagh then forces Sarah Jane to surrender the scroll by threatening her friends.
At the stone circle, Wormwood compels Tom to activate the portal, but he refuses to join her. Kaagh, ashamed of his loyalty to Wormwood, turns on her and pushes her into the portal, falling in with her as it closes. Sarah Jane destroys the scroll, ensuring the portal remains sealed forever.
Death of The Doctor, Part One
By Russell T Davies
This would be the same story as in real life, however Mike is added due to him being an extra role. Also Tom is in Clyde’s place and of course the Doctor is Richard Coyle’s Doctor and it’s extended in runtime.
Death of The Doctor, Part Two
By Russell T Davies
Again this would be the same as Part One, but with Mike in an extra role, Tom in Clyde’s place, Richard Coyle’s Doctor and an extended runtime.
Series Four was a very successful season for the show, the BBC announced the show would be renewed for three more seasons with the option for a fourth if the BBC were happy with the current progress.
2006
Series 6
Series 5 was a success, introducing the new Doctor, companions and the new showrunner, the story arc from last season was also very popular and so Moffat set about crafting another. Since the revival of Doctor Who, the show’s seasons had followed a basic story structure, which formed the season finale for that year.
The arc would see the departures for Claire Morton and Mark Baxter, with Lucy Davis and Ace Bhatti explaining that they wished for their characters to be written out of the show in a way that was satisfying to their characters, but with an open door for them to return if necessary. Moffat agreed as he’d planned for Claire and Mark’s characters to only last either 2-3 seasons, despite these two departures Richard Coyle explained his desire to stay on the show with Moffat.
Moffat also wanted to emphasise that the normal problems and challenges of marriage with Claire and Mark, Moffat felt this need to be expanded upon greatly as a marriage isn’t always perfect.
Once again the season would be 13 episodes airing from 15th April - 18th July, with a Christmas Special at the end of the year, as had been the tradition since 2000.
Look Behind You
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor, Claire and Mark arrive at a house in November 1973 after they research that a family of four went missing with tall figures in suits being seen around the village at the time, they meet all the
Beaumont couple, Tom and Joanne, their teenage son Darren and five year old daughter Suzie. The Doctor, Claire and Mark look around the house as they uncover secret passages and see mysterious shadows on the wall. It’s later revealed that the daughter, Suzie, is physically connected to the aliens and is calling them to the house. The Doctor later confronts the alien as it takes Suzie, Darren and Claire and learns they are called the Silence, the Doctor then tracks their location using the TARDIS and realises that they’re in the attic and discover that the house is a spaceship, the Doctor would defeat the Silence as the house is destroyed.
The Mask of Makassar
By Paul Cornell
The story sees the Doctor, Claire and Mark land on an alien planet whose inhabitants wear masks enabling them to share their thoughts as a telepathic community, we see Makassar, the spokes-unit for the community mind, ask the Doctor to represent the planet as alien representatives want to see the masks for themselves. The Doctor declines as he tells Claire and Mark that the system is very similar to the Matrix on Gallifrey, Mark is later confronted by a ghost-like phantom of a man wearing a mask, and when he tries to find the Doctor, he is attacked by Units who force a mask onto his face. The Doctor and Claire are also attacked by Units and forced to wear a mask, but Makassar finds it more difficult to take over the Doctor’s mind than he’d anticipated, and the Doctor and Claire are able to fight him off and rescue Mark from the gestalt. The Doctor places him in a dreamscape fashioned from Mark’s memories of Llandaff, where he gets his bearings and tells him about the ghost, who is presumably a rebellious Unit. The Doctor sends him out to find the ghost, and when he is attacked by Units, he calls out to the one who tried to contact her. While Makassar’s attention is divided, the Doctor manages to overpower him and draws on the power of the gestalt to generate his own ghost, one with some physical substance. Before Makassar can stop him, the Doctor removes his control mask and replaces it with one of the masks worn by the ordinary Units. The other Units are freed, including the Doctor, Claire and Mark, while Makassar is trapped in a mental feedback loop, capable only of sending orders to himself.
The TARDIS Conundrum
By Toby Whithouse
The TARDIS stops in mid-flight, the Doctor, Claire and Mark then realise that the TARDIS has no power, defences and they are on their own. The trio venture deep into the TARDIS, later being split up, the Doctor is then confronted by a cloud of mist which shows him all the people who he let die and what he did to so many others and he’s reminded of the Time War, the Doctor then has a mental breakdown, revealing he truly never recovered from his survivor’s guilt and his actions during the war.
Meanwhile Claire and Mark look through the TARDIS, they have a conversation about their troubles in
their marriage and question if it’s really working or not, they argue and Claire says that she’s scared about the future with Mark and Mark says he’s scared too but she should at least acknowledge his feelings instead of talking to the Doctor all the time.
Eventually the trio find each other again, they reach the centre of the TARDIS and power it back up, banishing the entity that terrorised the Doctor. Back in the console room, the mood of the traveller’s is off as Claire and Mark are cold to each other and the Doctor is just melancholic and silent, the Doctor then finds historical photographs on the TARDIS’ computer and finds an image of Claire and Mark, presumably either in the 40s or 50s.
Fear Her
By Matthew Graham
The Doctor, Claire and Mark arrive in a London neighbourhood just prior to the start of the 2012 Olympic Games. Children have been disappearing and the Doctor and Rose discover the source is a 12-year-old girl named Chloe Webber, who can cause people to disappear by drawing them. The Doctor finds that she is possessed by an Isolus, an alien life form that has crashed on Earth and can relate to Chloe's loneliness. For the Isolus to leave Chloe's body, they must find the Isolus's pod and give it power; Mark finds it under just-poured tar in the street and is able to power it by throwing it into the Olympic Torch as it comes by the street, giving the pod heat and emotional strength. As the missing children reappear, the demon-like drawing of Chloe's violent and dead father comes to life, but Chloe's mother calms Chloe's fears. The Isolus peacefully leaves Chloe's body.
The Impossible Planet
By Matt Jones
The Doctor, Claire and Mark arrive on a base on a planet which is impossibly orbiting a black hole. The crew of the base are there on an expedition to drill to the middle of the planet. A race of aliens known as
the Ood serve them. A quake strikes the planet, causing several sections of the base, including the one where the TARDIS was, to fall into the planet. As the drill nears the planet's centre, the Ood begin foretelling the awakening of a "Beast", which possesses archaeologist Toby Zed and later the Ood. The drilling finishes, and the Doctor offers to go with Ida Scott to the depths of the planet, where they discover a disc with unreadable markings found on the base and the possessed Toby's face. The Doctor believes the disc to be a door, and as it begins to open the possessed Toby tells Claire and Mark that the planet has begun to fall into the black hole and the voice of the Beast announces that he is free.
The Satan Pit
By Matt Jones
Ida and the Doctor investigate the door and Claire and Mark and the other members of the crew witness a force leaving Toby's body and assume that he is no longer possessed. The Doctor descends into the dark pit and the Beast speaks to him, revealing he is the epitome of evil of several religions and has been sealed inside the planet, but is seeking to escape. The Doctor runs out of rope and believes he can survive the drop and falls, the news of which distresses Claire and Mark. Most of the crew and Claire and Mark escape from the Ood and board and launch an escape rocket. The Doctor survives the crash and
finds the physical form of the Beast. The Doctor realises his consciousness has managed to escape. The Doctor triggers the sequence for the Beast and the planet to fall into the black hole, but as the Beast's consciousness is inside Toby the rocket begins to pull toward the black hole. Claire realises this and releases Toby from the rocket, and the Doctor finds the TARDIS in the pit and uses it to rescue Claire and Mark.
The Quiet Waters
By Mark Gatiss
The Doctor, Claire and Mark arrive on a ship called The Royal Edward in 1905, the ship’s Captain, Avery Samuels, reveals that the crew have been troubled by a Siren-like creature who pulls them into the sea. Avery reveals to the Doctor that the ones who are pulled in tend to be either sick or injured, around this time Mark has a cold and the Doctor and Claire realise they have to keep him away from the Siren. When Mark is taken, the Doctor, Claire and Avery cut themselves and the Siren teleports them to an invisible alien spaceship which occupies the same spot as the pirate ship. There they find a sickbay where it’s learnt that the Siren is treating all the ill crew members and Mark, after they all recover everyone goes back to the Royal Albert where the Doctor plants a few devices onto Avery’s ship and gives him a device to contact the Doctor if he needs help and tells Avery that these devices on his boat can get him to discover more than just the sea as they leave, the Royal Albert then begins levitating and flying into space as Avery and the crew laugh and rejoice at the greatest adventure they’ll ever have.
Meanwhile on the TARDIS, Mark is still recovering from his cold where he and Claire get the chance to talk. It’s revealed that Claire is scared for the future because she found out that she can’t have children, something Mark always wanted but Mark says that he doesn’t care and as long as they look after each other then that should be the main thing.
Loups Garoux
By Marc Platt
In Brazil in 2080, the Doctor, Claire and Mark encountered a band of Loups-garoux whose leader, Ileana de Santos, became attracted to the Doctor. After Pieter Stubbe forcibly took over the group to have Ileana as his mate and set them against humans, the Doctor challenged him. After halting the group's rampage in Rio de Janeiro by planting doubts about Stubbe's leadership, the Doctor tricked him into entering the TARDIS, taking him far away from Earth which caused him to die. Afterwards he said a private farewell to Ileana. On the TARDIS, Claire begins experiencing extreme pain and the Doctor scans her over, revealing that she’s not real and she’s a duplicate, created by the Silence as she dissolves into a puddle. Mark angrily confronts the Doctor asking him where Claire is and the Doctor promises that he’s going to rescue her, one way or another.
A Good Man Goes To War
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor assembles an army and, together with Mark, Captain Vince Bannerman, Elara Deacon, a Bounty Hunter named Clegg and a Sontaran named Strax, infiltrate the asteroid base Demons Run, where Claire is being held captive by The Silence and the head of the base Colonel Kovarian. The Doctor and Mark lead a daring assault, overcoming the base’s defences and rescuing Claire. As the Doctor’s allies clash with the Headless Monks, it appears that victory is within reach, until the Doctor realises he’s been deceived. The apparent success was a setup; the base was a trap designed to lure him in. In the end, Clegg dies and Strax sacrifices himself to save the Doctor from Colonel Kovarian who escaped custody, who’s also killed by Strax before he dies.
The Doctor lashes out as he blames it all on himself, knowing his actions wouldn’t have led to this but Vince comforts him telling him that this couldn’t have been prevented.
Phobos
By Eddie Robson
On the Martian moon Phobos, the Doctor, Claire and Mark find themselves in Lunar Park, a thrill-seekers’ haven built around a mysterious wormhole. As guests vanish and rumours of monsters spread, the Doctor investigates reports of strange creatures called Phobians actually repurposed construction droids controlled by a disturbed park guide, Kai. Kai believes the wormhole is a gateway to a being from a realm of fear, which feeds on terror and adrenaline.
As fear spreads, the entity grows stronger, even possessing Kai’s friend Eris to manipulate him. When the Doctor is nearly thrown into the wormhole, he descends willingly to confront the entity with his own terrifying memories, poisoning it with pure, loveless fear.
Colditz
By Steve Lyons
The Doctor, Claire and Mark arrive at Colditz Castle during the Second World War, the Doctor is shot in the shoulder by Nazis as the TARDIS was confiscated, and Claire and Mark were captured. Surviving his wounds, the Doctor was questioned over his strange biology and unusual possessions, and was placed in Elizabeth Klein's custody after handing her his TARDIS key to ensure Claire and Mark's safety, though he failed to understand how Klein knew about his TARDIS.
It soon transpired that Klein originated from a divergent timeline, where the Germans had won the war, the Doctor's TARDIS was discovered and he was apparently killed, with Klein travelling to the Doctor's timeline to capture him so he could teach her to fully control the TARDIS.
Forced to cooperate for Claire and Mark's life, the Doctor discovered that the TARDIS in which Klein had arrived had dematerialised, forcing her to demand use of the TARDIS the Doctor, Claire and Mark had arrived in. Returning to Colditz Castle, the Doctor manipulated Kurtz, a duty-bound officer, into exposing Klein, and prevented Klein's timeline from ever coming about.
Attempting to gain access to the TARDIS whilst it was dematerialising, Kurtz was torn apart on a molecular level, while Klein, now an anomaly, escapes.
Blood of The Robots
By Simon Clark
The TARDIS arrives on a planet where the Doctor, Claire and Mark find a world full of intelligent, sensitive robots being hunted by ruthless salvage squads in order to make room for human settlers forced to migrate from their overcrowded home planet.
Angels of Manhattan
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor takes Claire and Mark to Central Park. While the Doctor is reading Claire a novel about Melody Malone, Mark is taken by a Weeping Angel on his way back from getting coffee. In 1938 New York City, Mark meets Elara Deacon, the author of the novel. The Doctor and Claire use the novel to break their way into 1938 and find Mark, while he and Elara investigate the Angels' takeover of Manhattan. At the Winter Quay hotel, they find an aged Rory on his deathbed.
The Final Goodbye
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor, Claire, Mark and Elara try to escape the Angels as they try to understand more about the hotel, with the Doctor and Elara being separated from Claire and Mark. It’s later learned the Angels created the hotel in order to keep their victims and maintain a constant source of potential energy. To escape his fate, Mark and Claire jump off the top of the building to their deaths, creating a paradox. Waking up in a graveyard with the TARDIS, Mark is transported by a surviving Angel. As the Doctor begs Claire to come back into the TARDIS, she bids him a tearful farewell and allows the Angel to send her back to Mark. Later, the devastated Doctor reads an afterword by Claire in the novel, telling him all is well and requesting he visit her and Mark when he can as they wait for him.
Deck The Halls
By Steven Moffat
The TARDIS lands in a private estate on December 25th 1997, the Doctor meets three people who are spending Christmas on their own this year, named Georgia, Chris and Rob (played by Anna Maxwell Martin, Neil Morrissey and Adrian Lester). The Doctor and Georgia bond a lot throughout the story, with
both of them losing friends and family, though the Doctor keeps her at a certain distance. They realise that the house’s corridors are shifting and all the rooms change, the Doctor uncovers that the Nimon have kept them here and slowed down time for their own benefit as they want to see how quickly humans can go insane. Eventually the Doctor disrupts the Nimon’s equipment and the estate destroys itself as the Doctor gets Georgia, Chris and Rob out of the estate.
The Doctor drops them off on January 1st 1998, Georgia asks if she can come with the Doctor but the Doctor says that he wants to travel alone after his friends “left”. Georgia hugs him and tells him to find someone to spend with for next christmas, the Doctor then leaves in the TARDIS.
Series 6 was another popular year for the show, with the finale being a devastating blow to many fans and the Christmas Special, Richard Coyle was now seen as a fan-favourite Doctor with Moffat’s storytelling being quite captivating.
Series 5 of the Sarah Jane Adventures would air in late 2006, after the success of the first four seasons the BBC renewed the show for three more years, with the option for a fourth if the cast and crew wished. All the main cast members returned, however a new recurring character would join the cast, but not as a full time character, Lydia Marks, played by Georgia Moffett, who’s Ashley’s best mate.
The Vault of Secrets
By Phil Ford and Russell T Davies
This story would be the same, though with minor differences. It would also introduce Lydia as a character, we would also see this version of the story being a lot more dark and gruesome with a bit more death.
The Empty Planet
By Gareth Roberts
Once again, this story would be the same, with Tom and Ashley taking Clyde and Rani’s places.
Lost In Time
By Rupert Laight
Again the story is the same, but darker in tone.
Mona Lisa’s Revenge
By Phil Ford
So with this one certain stuff is changed, again it’s more brutal and horrific.
Adrift
By Chris Chibnall
This is pretty much the same, though with slight differences.
Adam
By Catherine Tregenna
This is again pretty much the same as the real life story we got, all the flashbacks with Gray and Jack are given to Mike where we learn Mike had a brother.
And that concludes Series 5 of the Sarah Jane Mysteries, once again this was another popular season. However it was announced that Series 6 was being pushed back to 2008, meaning that the only DW content for 2007 would be Doctor Who’s Seventh Series.
2007
Doctor Who: Series 7
So far the Steven Moffat era had been hugely successful, Series 5 and 6 carried on the popularity of the Russell T Davies era and Richard Coyle’s Eleventh Doctor was seen as a fan favourite among the fans, but times change and with Doctor Who, it was no exception.
Richard Coyle announced at the start of 2007 that this series would be his last as the Eleventh Doctor, stating that he didn’t want to overstay his welcome on the show and he’d already done a good job with Series 5 and 6.
Series 7 also introduced a new companion, Elsie Ward played by Hannah Spearritt, Moffat based a story arc around her in an attempt to make her an interesting companion with an interesting storyline and background.
The series aired from March 31st - June 30th 2007, with an additional Christmas Special at the end of the year.
The Great Detective
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor arrives in Victorian London during the winter of 1893, where a string of violent murders have taken place. He meets a woman named Elsie Ward, they both work together to try and solve the
case of the recent murders. The trail leads back to a restaurant which is part of a spaceship that crashed in the past and is filled with humanoid robots. Upon Elsie's prompting, the robots' cyborg control node, the Half-Face Man, reveals that he is trying to reach the "promised land" and killed the people to use their parts for a computer.
The Doctor confronts the Half-Face Man, claiming the Half-Face Man does not want to continue his existence because of how many times his body was replaced. The Half-Face Man then powers his computer as the restaurant powers up and it begins transforming into a spaceship as it ascends into the air, the Doctor and the Half-Face Man fight and as the Doctor is about to be killed, Elsie jumps in and sacrifices herself and the Half-Face Man as they plummet to their deaths.
After Elsie’s funeral, the Doctor goes back into his TARDIS and arrives back in the present day where he meets Elsie - The same woman.
A World of Nightmares
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor is bewildered, but happy that Elsie is alive, however Elsie doesn’t know who he is and the Doctor is naturally confused, but quietly presumes that he’ll find out in the future. The Doctor would hear about people going missing, with one of them being Elsie’s friend, the Doctor would investigate with Elsie tagging along. When the Doctor and Elsie go onto another street, they find themselves in a village at
night. The Doctor and Elsie learn that it’s a town in a pocket dimension that traps those who enter, with the missing people trying to stay alive while being terrorised by terrifying nocturnal creatures from the surrounding forest as they search for secrets hidden within the town and beyond in the hope of finding a way out. The Doctor and Elsie fight to survive as they piece together a puzzle of dates which all lead back to 1998, 1972, 1949 and 1916.
The Doctor then finds a machine keeping the path from the dimension to Earth closed and he realises that the creatures hate daylight and trap humans in a dimension of eternal night, he then unlocks the code: 6928 and everyone trapped gets back to the main universe as the light starts to make the dimension turn supernova as the pathway closes.
The Doctor then asks if Elsie wants to come with him and she eventually accepts.
The Shakespeare Code
By Gareth Roberts
The Doctor and Elsie land around Southwark in 1599, where they discover that William Shakespeare is under the spell of witch-like aliens known as Carrionites who are forcing him to finish Love's Labour's Won using a poppet. The Doctor learns that they are using the powerful words of the play to bring back
their imprisoned species; the words spoken by the actors are instructions which open a portal. The Doctor tries and fails to get Shakespeare to stop the play's performance at the Globe Theatre. When the Carrionites start coming through the portal, the Doctor convinces Shakespeare to use his own powerful gift of words to close the portal. The closing of the portal brings all of the copies of Shakespeare's lost play with the Carrionites.
Unearthed
By Adrian Hodges
The Doctor and Elsie arrive in St Albans, where a road project has stopped after workers uncovered a sealed chamber. Locals talk about disappearances, flickering lights, and people acting strangely. A government team takes over the site, led by a private firm with military ties. In London, the Prime Minister returns from a weekend trip and starts forcing new laws through Parliament, he plans a broadcast for the evening. The Doctor investigates the dig site and finds a tunnel system below. There, they discover the body of the real Prime Minister linked to a Silurian stasis chamber.
The Skin of Deceit
By Adrian Hodges
The Doctor and Elsie seal the tunnel system and head to London to stop the impostor now controlling
security and locking down St Albans. At Downing Street, they’re arrested when their UNIT passes that the doctor shows them are flagged as expired. They escape, climb a ladder behind Number 9, and slip through a roof panel into the attic next door. There, the Doctor finds the impostor is using Silurian technology linked to the dead Prime Minister’s body, controlled through something worn on the impostor’s wrist.
During a live broadcast, the Doctor is knocked down but throws the sonic to the companion, who uses it to expose the impostor. The Silurian sheds its disguise and calls for backup, but the plan collapses when the Silurians haven't awoken as planned. The Silurian is then shot by a group of soldiers nearby while trying to escape. The Doctor condemns this and tells them there should've been another way. The government calls it a hoax made by a terrorist organisation so as not to raise alarm.
Lucky Devil
By Phil Ford
The Doctor and Elsie arrive in modern-day London, where a string of mysterious tarot readings leads to strange and violent behaviour. When a troubled young man named Dean draws the "Devil card”, he
becomes possessed by a psychic entity feeding off his anger. As the Doctor investigates the source, a cursed alien tarot deck in a Soho pub, he discovers the cards are binding people to ancient parasitic beings known as Baelstorms. While Elsie tries to reach the humanity left in Dean, the Doctor uses a psychic mirror to confront the entity and sever its link. Dean is freed, the cards are destroyed, and balance is restored, though one card mysteriously remains: "The Fool."
42
By Chris Chibnall
Half a universe from Earth, the Doctor and Elsie answer a distress call from the cargo ship SS Pentallian, which will impact a star in 42 minutes. The ship's crew had scooped out part of the star, which is alive, for cheap fuel. The star uses crew members Korwin and Ashton as host bodies, and begins taking out
everyone on board. Elsie and crew member Riley, while trying to reach the front of the ship, are jettisoned into space in an escape pod by Ashton. The Doctor remagnetises the pod to bring Elsie and Riley back. The Doctor begins being taken over by the star, and tells Elsie to vent the engines, getting rid of the "sun particles" in the fuel. This causes the engines to start working again, and frees the ship from the star's pull.
Mirrorglass
By Paul Cornell
The TARDIS lands in a 19th-century Venetian town called Bellaporta, just before a grand masquerade festival. But the town is too quiet for the festivities. Elsie is drawn to the beautiful costumes and festivities. Strangely no one takes off their masks. They meet the Host, a nobleman who invites them to the Festival of Reflections, said to reveal your true self. But no one remembers arriving in Bellaporta, and no one can remember leaving. Elsie discovers that some townspeople vanish after the festival, replaced by strange, silent masked figures with no memories. The Doctor investigates the mirror-lined “House of Masks,” where he finds that the town is artificial. The Host is revealed to be an extension of an alien intelligence called Mirrorglass, a fractured consciousness that feeds on identity and memory. The town is a psychic trap, built to harvest personalities by drawing people into artificial roles and making them forget who they are. Elsie is captured and her memories begin to erode. She forgets the Doctor, and begins to think she’s always lived in Bellaporta. The Doctor allows himself to be captured to confront Mirrorglass from within. Elsie breaks free by confronting a memory of a past off screen adventure, refusing the illusion. The Doctor breaks the cycle by showing the Mirrorglass a memory from the Dark Times that collapses the illusion. Mirrorglass shatters and the town vanishes.
The Eight Truths
By Eddie Robson
The TARDIS lands on Earth in the year 2015, the Doctor discovers an organisation called the Eightfold Truth, who predict that "a rebel sun" was coming to purge the planet and it turns out they are correct.
WorldWide Web
By Eddie Robson
The Doctor Discovers that the Eightfold truth is a front for the Eight Legs and that Ashley has become a host to their queen, he manages to defeat them once again, saving Elsie and Karen Coltraine.
Moonwraith
By Gary Russell
The Doctor and Elsie arrive in 1966 Bristol and end up stumbling upon rumours of The Ecliptic Club, a casino where guests come out of feeling empty. The Doctor infiltrates the casino as a gambler while Elsie uncovers its secret: the owner, Mr. Lunfeld, is a Moonwraith, an alien feeding on players’ skills through psychic manipulation during rigged games. The alien’s ship is powered by the stolen skills of its victims. When Lunfeld targets the Doctor, the Doctor’s unique, skilled mind resists and begins to unravel the Moonwraith’s control. Meanwhile, Elsie disables the device taking skills from other guests. In the climax, the Doctor disrupts the Moonwraith’s psychic link, forcing it to teleport back to its ship. Overloaded by the Doctor’s skills flooding into the ship’s systems, the vessel destabilizes and explodes. The victims slowly regain their lost abilities and the Doctor and Elsie quietly leave.
Before The Fall
By Steven Moffat
In 1893 at the prison of Coldbrick Gaol, Captain Vince Bannerman leans across a candlelit table toward a quivering prisoner: Clarence DeMarco, condemned for unspeakable crimes and desperate for salvation. The prisoner’s eyes bulge in terror, not of Vince, but of what’s coming. He speaks in riddles, clutching Vince’s coat as he breathes out the words: “The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. And it is discovered.” Then, in a fit of panic, he slips a folded scrap of parchment into Jack’s hand.
Before Vince can press him further, the lights begin to fail. The air chills. And then, without warning, faceless, pale creatures melt from the shadows: The Whisper Men, drifting forward with mouths full of rhyme and menace. Their words slither into Vince’s mind: “Say what must never be said. Go where no man must tread.” Vince raises his vortex manipulator, slamming it just in time as the Whisper Men surge toward him.
In the TARDIS, the Doctor and Elsie land during the present day in London as they are deep in conversation about recent events. The Doctor then notices Vince standing outside the TARDIS, where the Doctor is happy to see him. Vince tells the Doctor and Elsie, inside the TARDIS, about what happened in 1893 and gives the Doctor the parchment, the Doctor is horrified as he recognises the name, whispering it out loud “Trenzalore.” The Doctor, Elsie and Vince travel to Trenzalore, but the TARDIS tries to resist it, but the Doctor overpowers the TARDIS.
They land on a desolate world shrouded in ash and fog: a war-grave planet, littered with crumbling tombstones and memories of a great conflict yet to come. At its centre stands a gigantic, decaying TARDIS, rotted and bloated from a collapsed timeline, the Doctor’s final resting place. Meanwhile, Elara Deacon, having received a temporal distress call encoded in the Gallifreyan script, arrives on Trenzalore via her own route through time. But she walks straight into a trap. The Whisper Men are waiting and they abduct her and imprisons her within a chamber where time stands still. It’s there that the true enemy reveals itself: the Great Intelligence. It has merged with the Whisper Men, feeding off fractured timelines. It wants one thing: entry into the Doctor’s tomb.
The Doctor and Elsie battle through the graveyard, fighting off Whisper Men who emerge from the earth like phantoms. Elara, hacks through the tomb’s defences using stolen temporal tech, and reunites with the Doctor.
They reach the tomb’s core, a spiralling beam of golden light. The Doctor's time stream. But it’s been corrupted. Glitching. Pulsing like a wounded heart. The Great Intelligence steps inside the time stream. It begins to walk through the Doctor’s past, undoing every victory. Planets fall. Companions are never met. Battles once won are lost. Vince collapses, violently, as he starts to die over and over again, as the stars and universes go out in complete darkness. As the Doctor collapses and Elara screams, Elsie jumps into the Doctor’s time stream in the hope that she can save him.
The End Lies Ahead
By Steven Moffat
Elsie plunges into the Doctor’s time stream, splintering into echoes across his timeline. She appears in
countless moments of his past, subtly guiding and saving him, but begins to unravel as the strain of infinite lives weighs her down. Within the collapsing vortex, Elsie glimpses something hidden: a sealed rift buried deep within the Time War, now bleeding open. Outside, the Great Intelligence is destroyed, but the damage is done: history begins collapsing in on itself. The Whisper Men vanish. Stars flicker out of the sky. Time fractures. A dying Vince and Elara pull the Doctor from the dying TARDIS tomb, but the universe continues to break apart.
A crack reopens in time and Gallifrey begins to return, a Time Lord army arrive on Trenzalore with scientists managing to stabilise Vince and Elara, but the Doctor is having a hard time trying to. They use a machine to open up a gateway into the Doctor’s timeline, saying that the Doctor needs to save Elsie once she’s defeat the Great Intelligence. In a grey void, Elsie and the Intelligence meet where they have a battle of their mind and Elsie manages to defeat him through the power of memory and her friendship with the Doctor and everything she’s seen of him.
The Doctor then stabilises and enters the timeline finding Elsie at the edge of time and he saves her. The Gallifreyan army leave Trenzalore, with Gallifrey being protected by a perception filter for the time being. As the skies clear, Elara and Vince leave. The Doctor then materialises around the orbit of Gallifrey, looking down on his planet and happy his home is back where it belongs, but he has a feeling that this may not be over.
The Clock Strikes Twelve
By Steven Moffat
The TARDIS lands on Earth to see Elsie at Christmas, however when the Doctor and Elise chat on the TARDIS they’re pulled through space to Gallifrey. The Doctor and Elsie are greeted by Romana, she
explains that a foreboding chaos is awaiting in a settlement called Christmas in a crack in the universe. The Doctor and Elsie travel to the village and discover that the crack is a gateway from the Dark Times. Sending Elsie home, he proceeds to spend hundreds of years fighting and defending Trenzalore against hordes of aliens including Cybermen, Weeping Angels and Autons, Elsie returns to find the Daleks are the last remaining aliens, and that the Doctor has fought for many years, with the Doctor on the cusp of dying from old age. The Doctor communicates to Romana through the TARDIS and asks what planet he’s on and Romana answers: Trenzalore.
After stalling them for long enough, the Doctor manages to use a machine he’s been powering up to blow all the Daleks up in the surrounding area and in the planet’s atmosphere, saving Christmas and changing the timeline for good.
Elsie goes back to the TARDIS a while later and sees the Doctor, young again, he tells Elsie that the clocks about to strike twelve and any minute the new Doctor is arriving and he explains regeneration to her. He tells her that this time he’s not scared and he gives a fond eulogy: "We all change, when you think about it, we are all different people, all through our lives, and that's okay, that's good! You've gotta keep moving, as long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I will not forget one line of this, not one day, I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me." He then sees a hallucination of Claire and Mark as they say “Goodbye Doctor, thank you”, the gold light starts to emerge as Elsie pleads him not to go and the Doctor smiles and throws his head back as a bright light covers his body, then the regeneration completes as we see the face of the Twelfth Doctor - Paterson Joseph.
The New Doctor lets out a huge breath, with Elsie being utterly dumbfounded as she stands looking with open-mouthed as the Twelfth Doctor stares her right in the eyes, in what appears to be a mix of curiosity and confusion, before stumbling backwards with a grunt of pain, clutching his abdomen. He proclaims, "KIDNEYS! I've got new kidneys!” Suddenly, the TARDIS begins shaking. The new Doctor not only tells her that they're likely to be crashing into something but to her horror, he says he has "just one question... Do you happen to know how to fly this thing?"
Series 7 of Doctor Who was a fan favourite series with the public and critics, it was also seen as a good send off to Richard Coyle’s Eleventh Doctor, with a good and interesting concept for a companion and a story arc.
2008
Doctor Who: Series 8
Steven Moffat cast Paterson Joseph as the Twelfth Doctor after Richard Coyle's Eleventh Doctor,
envisioning a "return to the ideas of the classic series with a modern edge." Joseph's charisma, screen presence and ability to blend seriousness with lighter moments made him the ideal choice for a Doctor. Moffat sought an actor who could effortlessly command a room, deliver both jokes and powerful speeches, all of which Joseph's time in theater taught him. Joseph’s casting also meant that he is the first black actor to play the Doctor, a decision met with high praise from the fans and the public.
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Collateral
By Steven Moffat
The TARDIS spins out of control and crashes into UNIT HQ, the newly regenerated Doctor steps out along with Elsie, the Doctor goes a bit mad and later collapses where he’s taken to the Medical Ward to
recover. Captain Magambo explains regeneration a bit more to the Doctor and says that he can sometimes go through post regenerative stress and he should recover fairly quickly. UNIT is later put on high alert as a missile from space hits Central London, the Prime Minister and UNIT talk about preparing the planet for an intergalactic war.
As UNIT coordinates disaster relief and global defences, tensions rise worldwide-panic spreads, major cities initiate lockdowns, and doomsday speculation floods the media. Magambo says that many World Leaders are contacting her, pushing for retaliation or at least contact with any known off-world powers. The Doctor finally recovers and bursts into the command room mid-briefing, still erratic but growing sharper by the minute. He pieces together what happened and eventually realises the missile wasn't meant for Earth. It Was part of a distant war, fired across solar systems and it drifted off-course through a gravitational fault line, tearing through space like a stone skipping across a pond.
The Doctor explains that now hundreds of civilizations will be watching to see how the planet responds. As global leaders prepare for war, the Doctor, calmer now, newly formed but familiar, speaks to world leaders via a telecom and says that Earth was struck by mistake and eventually world leaders come to their senses and nobody fires back.
The Doctor then picks out his costume and talks to Elsie, after some time Elsie comes round and realises the Doctor is still the same man that he was and the two leave in the TARDIS.
The Feeding Ground
By Chris Chibnall
The Doctor and Elsie arrive on the Western Front in 1918, investigating increased aggression and fanaticism among soldiers. They discover parasitic creatures that have burrowed into the sides of the trenches. They seem to be feeding on death. The doctor inspects one of the parasites and finds that they latch onto soldiers’ minds, escalating violence and anger. The Doctor encounters soldiers and officers consumed by a hatred against the enemy, unable or unwilling to question the endless fighting. Attempts to reason with commanders fail, as many are too influenced by the parasites to listen. The Doctor also witnesses moments of quiet doubt and exhaustion but finds that the parasites suppress positive emotions. The parasites need constant fighting because they feed on fresh bodies and thrive in the mud created by the war. When the Armistice is announced and the fighting stops, soldiers from both sides start feeling joy which weakens the grasp of the parasites. The soldiers begin to recover the dead to take home, cutting off the parasites’ food. With no fresh corpses, the parasites die off rapidly. The Doctor talks to Elsie about how even on his home planet there are people with ideas like what they had seen from the soldiers.
Planet of The Ood
By Keith Temple
The Doctor and Elsie land on the Ood's home planet, the Ood-Sphere where a company called Ood
Operations has been selling the Ood as slaves. A member of Friends of the Ood, Dr Ryder, infiltrates the company and lowers the settings on the barrier which blocks the giant brain that telepathically connects all of the Ood. The Ood start a revolution. Halpen murders Dr Ryder, but transforms into an Ood because his personal Ood, Ood Sigma, had been using Halpen's hair loss medication to slowly convert Halpen into an Ood. Sigma promises to take care of Halpen. The Doctor shuts down the barrier, freeing the Ood.
The Crimson Spiral
By Gary Russell
The Doctor and Elsie arrive in Florence, 1492, during the height of the Renaissance, where the sudden death of a famed astronomer sparks rumours of demonic possession. The Doctor investigates strange stellar patterns only visible from Earth's surface, forming a spiral of energy visible to the naked eye When artists and scholars begin chanting in unknown languages and drawing alien symbols in their sleep, the Doctor suspects alien influence, Elsie befriends a young apprentice named Matteo, whose visions match star charts only the Time Lords should recognise.
A secret society known as I Fratelli della Spirale are discovered to be in contact with a mysterious intelligence promising ultimate knowledge. The Doctor discovers the Mandragora Helix survived their last encounter and has returned to Earth via the minds of the Renaissance elite. As the Helix begins to open a psychic vortex above Florence, Elsie is captured and prepared as a vessel for the Helix's avatar The Doctor is forced to watch as the Helix takes hold - declaring the Enlightenment of Humanity has begun.
The Enlightenment Protocol
By Gary Russell
The Mandragora Helix spreads across Florence, using its influence to manipulate artists, inventors, and philosophers into creating devices that will amplify its control across space and time. The Helix, speaking through Elsie, reveals its plan to rewrite Earth's destiny, steering it toward pure logic and order. The Doctor escapes with Matteo and infiltrates the Medici court to find the last untainted minds. With time running out, the Doctor constructs a psychic mirror using Gallifreyan crystal shards hidden in the TARDIS, allowing him to confront the Helix within Elsie's mind. Meanwhile, Matteo leads a rebellion of rationalists who resist the Helix's infection. The Doctor enters Elsie's mindscape and frees her from the Helix's control, but the Helix opens a wormhole to flood Earth with its energy. The Doctor uses the mirror to reflect the Helix's psychic energy back through the spiral, collapsing the vortex. The Helix is banished into deep time once again. With Florence restored and the Renaissance preserved, the Doctor and Elsie leave Matteo to his future greatness, never telling him his star charts would one day inspire a man named Galileo Galilei himself.
Eye of The Gorgon
By Phil Ford
The Doctor and Elsie investigate reports of a ghostly nun haunting Lavender Lawns Rest Home. One resident, the elderly and confused Bea Nelson-Stanley, gives Elsie a mysterious talisman once uncovered
by her archaeologist husband, warning them to keep it safe from the Sisters of StAgnes. The Sisters, possessed by an ancient alien intelligence known as the Gorgon, seek to use the talisman to open a portal to their dying world and possess humanity.
The Doctor discovers the Gorgon has survived for millennia by leaping from host to host and now inhabits the abbess of the abbey. When the nuns steal the talisman and begin the ritual, the Gorgon selects Elsie as its next host. With time running out, the Doctor uses a mirror and the talisman to sever the link, turning the Gorgon to stone and freeing the nuns from its control. The portal closes, and Earth is saved once again.
The Unicorn and The Wasp
By Gareth Roberts
The Doctor and Elsie invite themselves to a dinner party in 1926, hosted by Lady Eddison, where one of the guests is Agatha Christie. The Doctor realises that they have arrived on the day Agatha inexplicably disappears. A giant shapeshifting alien wasp in human form called a Vespiform kills three of the guests with methods similar to the murders in Agatha's murder mysteries. The Vespiform is revealed to be Lady Eddison's illegitimate half-human son, Reverend Golightly. Golightly, who has a telepathic link with Lady
Eddison through her necklace, became aware of his alien nature and absorbed the details of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, an Agatha Christie murder mystery his mother was reading at the time. He transforms into the Vespiform and threatens the guests. Agatha lures him towards the Silent Pool. Elsie throws the necklace into the water, and the wasp dives after it and drowns. Due to her own connection with the necklace, Agatha falls unconscious and suffers from amnesia. This becomes the event that gave her amnesia during her disappearance, and the Doctor drops her off in Harrogate.
Ghostwatch
By Adrian Hodges
Presented as a live broadcast, the Doctor and Elsie join a paranormal investigation at a suburban council house in North London, where a mother and her two daughters claim to be terrorised by a malevolent presence. The Doctor anchors from a London studio alongside skeptical experts and a phone-in audience, while Elsie reports live from the house, interviewing the family and examining the supposed haunting. At first, it all seems like harmless taps and tricks, until Elsie uncovers claw marks on the walls, furniture moves on its own, and one of the girls begins speaking in a voice not her own. The entity, nicknamed "Pipes" by the children, appears to dwell behind a locked under-stairs door that no one can explain.
As the night unfolds, the supposed fiction blurs into a terrifying reality. Callers report seeing a shadowy figure standing silently behind characters on-screen, and the TV crew begins to vanish, one by one. The Doctor realises that the broadcast itself is acting as a psychic conduit, amplifying the entity’s power. When a séance conducted on-air goes wrong, the boundary between the studio and the house collapses. Elsie is dragged screaming into the darkness behind the under-stairs door, which slams shut and cannot be opened. Studio lights flicker, monitors burst into static, and the audience at home begins experiencing paranormal events themselves.
In the final moments, the studio descends into chaos. The feed cuts in and out as crew members flee, until only the Doctor remains, lit by the glow of flickering monitors. He stares into the darkness as a deep, unnatural voice begins to chant “Fee, fie, foe, fum.” The studio power fails, the picture distorts, and the episode ends in silence and static.
Horror of Glam Rock
By Paul Magrs
In Blackpool in 1974 and sees the Doctor and Elsie arriving at a motorway service station where they meet a double act band called ‘The Tomorrow Twins’, we discover that one of the members, Tommy, is being possessed by a race called ‘The Only Ones’ through his Stylophone. The Only Ones are defeated when they are trapped in Elsie’s MP3 Player.
Dead London
By Pat Mills
The Doctor and Elsie arrive in London, however they find London to be split into different parts of history from the Roman times to the modern day and the Thames separates the time zones. The streets are stalked by a creature named Sepulchre and all of this is inside it’s mind, we learn that Sepulchre takes people who he considers worthless out of time and places them in the reenactment chambers in his mind. Sepulchre is defeated when the Doctor is able to remove it from it’s power and exposes him to the people of the Londons who now see him as an alien, but although they’ll still live in his mind they won’t be controlled.
Red Genesis
By Mark Gatiss
The Doctor and Elsie arrive on ancient Mars after detecting temporal interference. They find early Ice Warrior groups being led by a man called Lieutenant Fee. He has given them limited off-world technology and is directing them to build a device. The Doctor observes that the Martians are advancing too quickly and suspects Fee is manipulating their development. The Doctor investigates the device but cannot identify what it is meant to do. It briefly activates and distorts the sound around them before shutting down. Fee refuses to explain its function, only saying it is important and that it will bring back what was thought to be lost. The Doctor tries to stop the project, but Fee retrieves the device and prepares to leave. Before the Doctor can act, Fee uses his vortex manipulator to escape with the device. The Doctor warns the Martians not to follow what they were taught and to develop on their own path. Inside a small ruin, Fee gathers together the items gathered from throughout the series and places them within the device which starts to activate. Fee is then suddenly on the floor dead, echoing in the ruin a laugh can be heard.
Dark Water
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor and Elsie land in London, where Captain Magambo calls them to UNIT HQ. She tells them that in the 6 months that they’ve not been around a new company called The 3W Institute have been founded and that they’re conducting very suspicious activity, this then prompts the Doctor and Elsie to help UNIT and investigate the company.
The Doctor and Elsie arrive at 3W and are shown around the grounds by the director Marian Sterne, played by Gina Bellman, alongside Doctor Prentice. 3W is a research facility and was created to protect the dead after voices heard within white noise suggested the dead are aware of their bodies being cremated, Prentice shows them the facility where skeletons are contained in a blue liquid called "dark water" that hides the exoskeletons that support the skeletons. He then takes the Doctor and Elsie to his office and plays them recording within the White Noise, the Doctor wants to see more around the facility but Elsie decides to stay in the office for a bit.
Sterne then activates the tanks and the skeletons stand up, when the Doctor and Prentice arrive they confront Sterne and Prentice is killed by her. As the tanks begin to empty, the Cybermen are slowly revealed.
Elsie is about to leave the room when she finds the door is locked, when she turns round she sees a Cyberman in the tank.
The Cybermen activate, they break out the tank and Sterne revels in the growing chaos. The Doctor asks
what she’s trying to do and she says that she’s finally doing something that’ll hurt the Doctor, as he’s loved this pitiful, little world for so long. The Doctor asks who she really is, Sterne says “Think, Marian Sterne, it’s an anagram. I couldn’t call myself the Master whilst UNIT were watching, now could I?” The Doctor initially reacts with disbelief that quickly turns to horror when he realises she is telling the truth and his old nemesis has returned. He runs to the main doors of the facility and begins banging on them, the Cybermen begin to kill scientists in the facility as the Doctor is out of options. Meanwhile, Elsie is slowly being cornered by the Cyberman.
Storm of The Cybermen
By Steven Moffat
Clouds begin forming across the world, releasing rainfall that brings the dead back as Cybermen. UNIT captures the Master, taking her to a secure aircraft. With the threat being a time lord, the Doctor is named President of Earth. Onboard, he’s reunited with Captain Magambo and Lethbridge-Stewart. When questioned, the Master explains that she stole a Matrix coding machine from Gallifrey and repurposed it to generate the clouds. Inside 3W, Elsie dodges patrolling Cybermen and discovers the machine buried in the lower levels. She gets word to Magambo, confirming 3W as the source. Before UNIT can respond, the Master slips free.
A swarm of airborne Cybermen launch a sudden assault on the plane. In the chaos, the Master opens a cargo door, sending the aircraft into a dive. She vanishes using a vortex manipulator, and the Doctor uses the TARDIS to get everyone out of the plane, landing in a nearby graveyard. There, the Master is waiting. She explains the second wave of clouds will convert the living, not just the dead. She offers command of the Cybermen to the Doctor, urging him to accept they are alike. He turns her down without hesitation. Meanwhile, Lethbridge-Stewart authorises a strike on 3W, destroying the machine and stopping the clouds. As UNIT recaptures the Master, she gives the Doctor a warning that another storm is brewing.
The One Doctor
By Steven Moffat and Gareth Roberts
The Doctor and Elsie answer a distress signal from the Vulgar End of Time, a point in the far future where everything had already been discovered. Arriving on the planet Generios 1, the Doctor encounters a scam artist named Banto Zame, who, together with his assistant, Sally-Anne Stubbins, were claiming to be the Doctor and his companion and were creating fake dangers to con the people into paying them to help. However, a real threat appeared in the skies and offered to let the people live if they handed over the three greatest treasures of the Generios system. The Doctor teams up with the pretenders and undergoes a quest to find the treasures. Elsie convinces Sally of her own worth and the Doctor managed to defeat the Cylinder, tricking it into taking Zame instead of himself.
Series 8 of Doctor Who was an immediate success, with Paterson Joseph’s 12th Doctor being quite successful with the general public, Ghostwatch was seen as the most popular story of the past few years with some comparing it to Blink and Midnight, perhaps a contender.
The Sarah Jane Mysteries - Series 6
The sixth series of The Sarah Jane Mysteries would’ve aired in late 2008, everyone from the previous seasons would’ve returned, but a new cast member would’ve been introduced: Tyger Drew-Honey as Ben Smith, Sarah’s adopted son, he would be similar to what Luke’s character would be but how he’s introduced is different.
Ben
By Russell T Davies
The story sees a baby being left on Sarah’s doorstep, the group take in the baby and try to help it and try to balance fighting aliens with looking after the baby. However, an alien known as Krezlin is looking for the child as Krezlin is from the future where the child grows up to be the greatest mind of it’s generation and will help them win a war, he transforms the child into a 12 year old boy. The story would focus on the group protecting the kid and stopping Krezlin, at the end of the story Sarah calls the kid Ben Smith.
Warriors of Kudlak
By Phil Gladwin
Same story that we got in real life but different.
The Trial of Sarah Jane
By Phil Ford
The story would see the rain going up in Bannerman Road. Sarah Jane would have been captured by the Judoon, to be placed on trial where old enemies of Sarah Jane would have been against her with her friends defending her and being successful.
Don’t Sit Too Close to the Screen
By Joseph Lidster
The story involves a new children's television show that causes its viewer to become possessed. The aliens responsible harness electrical impulses in the viewers' brains, their aim being to eradicate humanity so that they can live uninterrupted in the electricity.
Wallpaper
By Joseph Lidster
The story sees the group redecorating, with one of the Bannerman Road gang was to strip some paint off a wall and reveal old wallpaper underneath. Faces would appear on the wallpaper; these would be aliens from another dimension trying to arrive on Earth, literally taking shape in walls and stepping through them.
The Man Who Never Was
By Gareth Roberts
This is the same with what we got in real life.
Miracle on Bannerman Road
By Phil Ford and Clayton Hickman
It would have been a pastiche of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, with Sarah Jane being shown Christmas past, present and future by a guide, played by Tom Baker, however it turns out that this is a plan of the Trickster and the 12th Doctor, played by Paterson Joseph, comes to save Sarah and the Earth.
Once again this series was quite popular, however Series 7 was once again delayed until 2010.
Voidwatch: Series 4
When Children of Earth aired in 2004, the creator of Voidwatch, Russell T Davies, didn’t expect the show
to have such high ratings and be held in such high praise. Davies hinted at a possible return for the show at somepoint in the future, but with Davies working on new projects like The Second Coming, Bob and Rose and Series 4 and 5 or the Sarah Jane Mysteries it seemed that it was incredibly unlikely that Voidwatch would return. However with Captain Vince Bannerman, played by Jonathan Kerrigan, popping up in Series 6 and, later, Series 7 of Doctor Who, Davies decided to contact Moffat about the possibility of giving Voidwatch a fourth series or a miniseries. Davies later met up with Moffat and Julie Gardner, it was then decided that a three part miniseries would be made for December 2008, with the subtitle “Miracle Day”.
It was also decided that working alongside Davies would be former Head Writer of Voidwatch Chris Chibnall, alongside Doctor Who Director, Producer, Writer and former showrunner of the Sarah Jane Mysteries Gary Russell, with the director of the three episodes being Colin Teague.
Soon later Jonathan Kerrigan, Keeley Hawes and Richard Mylan were signed on to reprise their respective roles, with Murray Gold also returning as composer.
The title sequence consisted of a black background with a thin red electrocardiogram line travelling from the left of the screen to the right of the screen. The actor's names then appear on screen in white letters as each new red lines moves across the screen. Once the names finish displaying, the red heart rate lines become faster as they change angle and move into the background, whilst this happens the title card appears reading: “Voidwatch: Miracle Day”. Another small red line then travels across the bottom of the screen and the part number appears below the logo. The theme music for this title sequence is a slower, darker arrangement of the original Voidwatch opening theme music, with beeping noises along with hospital sound effects in the background.
ONE
By Russell T Davies and Chris Chibnall
Following an unprecedented global event where all human death ceases, Voidwatch is quietly reactivated by MI5 when a series of anomalies trace back to Vince. He quickly realises his immortality has vanished, and that his biology may be central to the phenomenon. Louise, now a mother to a four-year-old daughter, re-joins the team while balancing her new responsibilities. Marnie Asquith, an MI5 analyst, is assigned to monitor their activity and quickly becomes involved in the investigation.
The UK government establishes “care camps” to detain individuals who should be dead, with Voidwatch uncovering evidence that the camps are incinerating the still-living. Vince and Marnie infiltrate one such facility in Northumberland, where they document the incineration of a conscious patient and leak the footage to the press. Public backlash surges, but officials refuse to dismantle the camps, citing societal collapse if action isn’t taken.
Fergus Lyle, a member of GCHQ, uncovers that biological material matching Vince’s 1920s medical file was shipped to two locations, those being Shanghai and Santiago del Estero just days before the Miracle began. Vince recognises the names of the companies involved as shell entities once tied to the same three families who had previously abducted and experimented on him in 1924.
TWO
Written By Russell T Davies and Gary Russell
With antipodal coordinates confirmed, Voidwatch splits to investigate both sites. Vince and Louise travel to Shanghai, while Marnie reaches Santiago. Both teams discover underground complexes connected to the Blessing, a geobiological structure extending through the Earth’s core. Surveillance and resistance suggest the Families maintain full operational control over both locations.
The Blessing appears to respond to biological stimuli and, through exposure to Vince’s immortal blood, may have been altered to distribute his life force to the global population. Marnie is wounded during an engagement but remains alive due to the Miracle. Fergus is captured while attempting to extract data from the Santiago control hub and is later presumed dead.
At the Shanghai facility, Vince encounters a surviving subject from the 1924 experiments who confirms the Families used his blood to manipulate the Blessing. With no external override, both ends must be purged simultaneously. Marnie, revealing she secretly transfused herself with Vince’s blood, agrees to perform the ritual on the other side if he is incapacitated.
THREE
Written By Russell T Davies
The teams coordinate their actions across hemispheres. The inner chamber is breached in Santiago, allowing Marnie to reach the Blessing. In Shanghai, Vince prepares for the blood transfer. As both inject Vince’s mortal blood into the Blessing, the global Miracle ends abruptly, and death resumes worldwide. Vince collapses immediately, his condition uncertain. Louise escapes with him as the Shanghai complex destabilises.
In the days following the reversal, emergency services and political infrastructures attempt to regain control. Marnie survives but is left hospitalised; Fergus is confirmed dead. Andy is posthumously recognised, after the Children of Earth crisis. Louise returns home with her child, unwilling to resume fieldwork. Vince remains in recovery.
During Andy’s funeral, Vince is shot by a Family mole but survives the attack unharmed. The incident confirms that his immortality has returned, though the Blessing itself remains dormant.
Voidwatch: Miracle Day was positively received as the final chapter in the Voidwatch story and was seen as a good, but dark send off to the show. Thank you to Joseph, who wrote the whole of this series.
2009
The Citadel - Series One
The Citadel was the third Doctor Who spinoff after Voidwatch and The Sarah Jane Mysteries, it would’ve been created by Gary Russell and Steven Moffat, the idea of the show was to give Gallifrey it’s own story after it returned in Series 7 and the 2007 Christmas Special of Doctor Who, Series One aired from 7th February 2009 for eight weeks.
The main premise of the show was that it centered around the politics, trials and tribulations of Gallifrey and mainly focused on the High Council. As such they were the main characters with Romana, played by Sarah Alexander, being central to the plot of the series.
Gary Russell was made showrunner of The Citadel with a clear planning of what he wanted to do with
the series with Steven Moffat and Julie Gardner serving as Executive Producers, though this would be Gardner’s only season as she left to become the Executive of Scripted Projects at BBC Worldwide.
Composer was David Arnold, he composed the main theme for the opening and all the other themes throughout the series.
Sarah Alexander was cast as the main role after she accepted the role of Romana in the Christmas Special. Romana's leadership of the planet would be a huge focus of the story and she would be vital to many things, alongside the rest of the High Council.
Charles Abomeli was also cast as Thorn, his character would be an ambassador and is a main player in the High Council as Romana appointed as an envoy to the Galactic Federation, meaning that he would often be working with the Federation to help build relationships with Gallifrey.
David Calder was cast as Cardinal Cindor, Romana’s Vice President who’s a traditionalist who’s fiercely proud of Gallifreyan heritage and culture who’s wary of Romana’s more diplomatic and open contact reforms.
Inquisitor Malika would be played by Indira Varma, who would be Chief Arbiter of the Citadel Tribunal, her role is overseeing all internal justice, legal rulings and civil orders. Although an ally of Romana and her Presidency, she has no regrets of holding allies by account, she’s not a villain but more so a complication.
Castellan Jorvan, played by Colin Salmon, oversees the Chancellery Guard and finally we have Hayley Atwell as Chancellor Varn, Gallifrey’s youngest elected Chancellor who’s very supportive of Romana’s reforms and her presidency, so much that later she becomes her most trusted and supported ally.
The Art of Peace
By Gary Russell
On Gallifrey, tensions rise within the High Council as President Romana continues pushing forward her controversial Integration Accords: a sweeping package of reforms that would open Gallifrey to full diplomatic and trade relations with the wider universe. In the Citadel, Romana faces growing opposition, especially from Cardinal Cindor, her Vice President, who accuses her of abandoning Gallifreyan heritage in favor of “alien entanglements.” Chancellor Varn defends Romana passionately, arguing that Gallifrey must evolve or be left behind.
Ambassador Thorn returns from a Galactic Federation summit on Peladon with troubling news: many member worlds distrust Gallifrey’s sudden re-emergence. Some fear the Time Lords are seeking to reassert control after the Time War. Thorn urges Romana to speak to the Federation herself, but Inquisitor Malika warns that no sitting President has left Gallifrey in over a millennium, and breaking that precedent could destabilize her already fragile support.
In the lower Citadel, unrest brews among the Academicians and young Time Lords who accuse Romana of "selling out" Gallifrey’s traditions. Castellan Jorvan uncovers a protest planned during the next Council session and orders a discreet security lockdown. Romana, informed of the situation, forbids Jorvan from using force, insisting that dissent must be heard, not silenced.
The situation complicates further when a Federation envoy, Minister Halrix of Corionus, arrives on the edge of Gallifreyan space, refusing to land. Thorn meets the envoy aboard his vessel and learns that Federation leaders are worried Gallifrey still harbors military ambitions. To prove her intentions, Romana makes a bold move: she orders the temporary deactivation of the planet’s defensive grid, an unprecedented gesture of trust.
The move infuriates the traditionalists on the Council. Cindor calls an emergency session to condemn Romana’s “reckless gamble,” but she defends her decision as a statement of Gallifrey’s new path. “We once ruled from fear. We must now lead with hope,” she tells them.
In a private meeting aboard the Federation ship, Romana reassures Halrix that Gallifrey seeks peace, not dominance. The envoy departs cautiously hopeful, promising to relay her words to the other member worlds.
Back in the Capitol, the protest goes ahead peacefully. Inquisitor Malika notes the restraint and maturity shown by both sides and tells Romana that, while her reforms are controversial, they are beginning to take root.
Romana and Varn walk through the Citadel’s quiet halls. Romana says, “This world doesn’t fear war. It fears change. And that’s why change is worth everything.” Varn replies with a quiet smile, “Then let’s keep changing it.”
By The Will of The People
By Paul Cornell
As Gallifrey continues to struggle with its new place in the universe, President Romana prepares to deliver her annual Unity Address to the High Council, an oration meant to celebrate the harmony of the Time Lords. Behind closed doors, however, that harmony is fracturing.
Romana’s Integration Accords have begun to take effect, with early diplomatic ties established with the Kastrians and the Traken Union. But as Ambassador Thorn celebrates the progress, Chancellor Varn uncovers a worrying trend: petitions from the outer Chapters calling for Romana’s resignation have begun circulating, citing “cultural degradation” and “constitutional overreach.”
Romana refuses to back down. She insists that the tide of time can’t be stopped and entrusts Varn to rally the Council's moderate voices. Meanwhile, Cardinal Cindor meets privately with conservative delegates, stoking fears that Gallifrey is losing control of its destiny. He stops short of calling for impeachment, but others are less cautious.
Inquisitor Malika is pulled into the growing controversy when a former Councillor from the Patrex Chapter formally submits a motion of censure against Romana. Malika warns Romana that while the motion is mostly symbolic, it could be the first legal stepping stone to forced removal. Romana, ever composed, decides to press forward with her Unity Address and use it as a platform to calm the storm.
Elsewhere, Castellan Jorvan investigates a security breach in the Arcalian Archives. He discovers that someone has accessed restricted War-era documents detailing presidential conduct during the Time War, files Romana had ordered sealed indefinitely. He brings the matter to Malika, who confirms that if anything from that era were to emerge, it could provide justification for formal impeachment proceedings under the Emergency Powers Act.
The Unity Address is broadcast across Gallifrey. Romana speaks passionately of a “new Gallifrey, forged from understanding, not superiority.” The speech is met with lukewarm applause in the Panopticon and rising discontent in the outer systems.
A disguised agent, whose face we never see, delivers a classified data crystal to a shadowy figure cloaked in Council robes. The data is from the sealed War files. The figure smiles coldly. “This will be enough.”
Acts of Treason
By Tom MacRae
The fallout from Romana’s Unity Address sends shockwaves through Gallifrey. Across the outer Chapters, voices grow louder, protesting not just her reforms, but her legacy. At the heart of the scandal is a leak: classified records from the War Council archives have been made public, implicating Romana in greenlighting Project Revenant, a covert initiative that allegedly led to the erasure of a neutral system during Rassilon’s final campaign in the Time War.
Romana is stunned. She tells Chancellor Varn she never authorised such an operation and suspects the orders came from Rassilon himself, during his brief and brutal return to power in the final days of the war. But with her name attached to the project and no living witnesses to counter the claim, the political damage is immediate.
Inquisitor Malika convenes a legal inquiry into the matter, but before any defence can be heard, Cardinal Cindor seizes the moment. He proposes a motion of impeachment, declaring that Gallifrey cannot be led by someone with “even the faintest scent of wartime atrocity” on their hands.
Chancellor Varn pleads with Romana to make a full-throated denial in the Panopticon. Instead, she remains measured, stating only: “The truth is buried deeper than any of us can dig, and those who buried it would rather see me fall than be found out.” Her restraint is seen by some as nobility, by others, as guilt.
Meanwhile, Castellan Jorvan tracks the source of the leak to a reactivated Division spire beneath the Capitol. He uncovers signs of a larger conspiracy, with sealed files reappearing in public networks. Someone is orchestrating Romana’s downfall from the shadows, but Jorvan has no proof, and the Council refuses to delay the vote.
Ambassador Thorn attempts to rally support from Federation allies, but they begin distancing themselves from Gallifrey, citing “unresolved war crimes” and “presidential instability.” The integration effort begins to unravel.
During a tense emergency session of the High Council, the impeachment motion is put to vote. The chamber is silent as each Councillor casts their decision. When the tally is read, Malika announces: “By majority vote of the High Council, and under the provisions of the Articles of Harmony, Romana is hereby suspended from the Office of President, pending full tribunal review.” Romana does not speak. She rises, nods once to Varn, and exits the chamber.
In the final scene, she stands alone in her private office, gazing out over the gleaming domes of the Capitol. Her reflection flickers in the window’s glass as the stars of Gallifrey’s twin suns rise behind her. Quietly, she says to herself: “They’re not ready… but they will be.”
The Measure of Her Soul
By Joseph Lidster
Romana stands trial before the full Citadel Tribunal, stripped of office, her every action during the Time War laid bare. Inquisitor Malika presides over the proceedings with characteristic precision, joined by three Tribunal Justiciars from the Arcadian Sector, chosen for their neutrality. Project Revenant becomes the central charge. Malika presents the leak: a classified directive bearing Romana’s seal, authorising the “pre-emptive containment” of a neutral system suspected of harboring Dalek remnants. If true, it would constitute a violation of both Time Lord neutrality and wartime protocol.
Romana refuses legal counsel and instead chooses to represent herself. She argues that the signature is real, but the context has been twisted. “I authorised containment,” she says, “but not destruction. The execution of those orders happened after I was removed by Rassilon. The War changed everything, especially what justice meant.”
Chancellor Varn watches from the gallery, barely concealing her frustration as Romana refuses to name those truly responsible. Meanwhile, Castellan Jorvan continues to investigate the original leak and uncovers a startling anomaly: the data crystal that carried the Revenant directive bears a timestamp just after Rassilon assumed control. It couldn’t have been authorised by Romana. Halfway through the tribunal, Malika demands full disclosure of all war-era seals still held under Presidential security. When she pushes for unrestricted access, she discovers an override code, one that only a sitting Vice President would have.
Malika confronts Cindor in private. He admits to orchestrating the release of the documents. “Gallifrey was slipping from our grasp,” he says coldly. “You think she saved us? She weakened us. The universe no longer fears Time Lords. I merely... reminded them.”
Malika is shaken but refuses to end the trial without process. In the next session, she reveals the timeline discrepancy in the Revenant directive. When cross-referenced with War Council orders, it becomes clear: the destruction of the system came after Romana’s removal from wartime command. The Tribunal clears her of wrongdoing by a unanimous vote. Outside the chamber, Councillors quietly disperse. Some bow their heads as Romana passes, others look away. Later, in her office restored as President, Romana summons Cindor. He prepares for dismissal, even exile. But Romana surprises him.
Romana says that she’s not removing him and she’ll let him continue to serve as Vice President, but he has to report to Chancellor Varn on all inter-chapter matters and will be watched closely. Cindor nods, calling her a fool, Romana replies quietly, telling him that she can bring him down if she wants too but she’ll wait. She turns away and looks once more to the stars beyond her office window, calm but changed.
Fault Lines
By Adrian Hodges
While Gallifrey regains its footing after Romana’s exoneration, the cracks beneath the planet’s surface continue to widen. Riots break out in the Cerulean Enclave, where Time Tots are being relocated due to spatial instability in the Academy sectors. A food synthesis shortage among non-Highborn families further inflames civil unrest, a rare but growing sign that Gallifrey’s rigid social structure is beginning to strain.
Romana holds a crisis meeting with Varn, Malika, and Jorvan. The Prydonian Chapter, long the bedrock of Gallifreyan power, is losing influence in the wake of the impeachment trial. Younger Councillors are abandoning Prydonian ideals in favour of Romana’s progressive stance, while traditionalist support dwindles. Cardinal Cindor warns that the Prydonians may fracture entirely unless they are granted concessions. Romana refuses to compromise Gallifrey’s future for the sake of an outdated hierarchy.
Ambassador Thorn, meanwhile, thrives. On behalf of Gallifrey, he signs a multilateral defence pact with the Galactic Federation, including time-sharing access to Federation surveillance archives. His diplomacy impresses even the Federation Core Systems, who begin to lift long-standing post-War restrictions against Time Lords. Gallifrey is no longer feared, but now, cautiously respected.
Thorn returns to Gallifrey to speak before the High Council. His report dazzles many: “We are no longer ghosts in the eyes of the cosmos. We are neighbours. We are peers.” But his optimism is interrupted when a faction of radical Prydonian reformists publicly denounce him, accusing him of trading away Gallifreyan sovereignty.
The same night, Thorn’s diplomatic shuttle is sabotaged on the Capitol landing pad. Castellan Jorvan prevents a detonation, but the incident sparks panic. Cindor quietly suggests pulling back from the Federation entirely, claiming “the Federation fears us united.” Romana suspects internal sabotage and possibly Cindor’s silent encouragement.
Romana visits the Prydonian archives, once hallowed halls, now eerily empty. She confides in Varn: “They once ruled this world from here. Now it echoes.” Varn replies: “Echoes can still cause tremors. Be ready.”
Ambassador Thorn returns to his Federation post under heavy guard, and Romana watches from the Panopticon balcony as the Prydonian banner is lowered from its ancient tower for the first time in Gallifreyan history.
The Red Summit
By Mark Gatiss
Ambassador Thorn arrives on Mars for the Convocation of Powers: an annual high-level diplomatic summit hosted by the Galactic Federation, bringing together representatives from the galaxy’s most prominent civilizations. Held in the glittering dome-city of Noctis Prime, the summit is the most significant Federation gathering since Gallifrey’s return to the interstellar stage.
Thorn is warmly received but immediately placed under pressure. Though his appointment and Romana’s presidency have stabilized Gallifrey’s position, not all Federation members are convinced. Several delegates, including the crystalline Prime Speaker of Thorax Minor and the Sycorax hive-regent, express reservations about the Time Lords’ historical dominance.
Back on Gallifrey, Romana, Chancellor Varn, and Inquisitor Malika observe proceedings via secure relay. They know Thorn is walking a diplomatic tightrope, representing a civilisation still defined by its past, yet seeking a new role in a more cooperative galactic future.
During a key closed session, a motion is introduced that would bar Gallifrey from contributing to the Federation’s proposed Temporal Regulation Charter, a symbolic move designed to limit Time Lord authority in shaping galactic chronology. Thorn lobbies hard behind the scenes, meeting with several hesitant delegates in private, including a rare audience with Kkarnaz, the Martian Chancellor and former Ice Lord.
Kkarnaz, pragmatic and wry, tells Thorn: “Gallifrey is like a star whose light we still see, even after the sun has cooled. We’ve admired it and feared it. Now we must learn to live beside it.” Thorn takes the sentiment to heart.
On Gallifrey, Castellan Jorvan reports unrest in the Prydonian quarters, not violence, but discontent. The once-dominant Chapter continues to feel sidelined as Romana’s reforms advance and Gallifrey’s priorities shift outward. Cardinal Cindor urges caution, warning Romana not to alienate the old guard too quickly. Romana listens, but remains firm in her course.
In the summit’s final session, Thorn gives an impassioned speech. “Gallifrey is not here to lecture, to lead, or to rewrite history. We are here to listen, to contribute, and to begin again, as equals.” The chamber falls into thoughtful silence. When the vote is taken, Gallifrey is narrowly admitted into the regulation charter discussions. It’s a significant diplomatic win.
Thorn’s success is welcomed back on Gallifrey, though not without debate. Some Councillors worry about Gallifrey’s sovereignty. Others hail it as the clearest sign yet that Gallifrey’s future lies in cooperation, not isolation.
Thorn gazes out across the Martian plain at dusk. Back on Gallifrey, Romana stands in her office, watching the sun set behind the Citadel’s glass towers, quietly hopeful.
The Price of Peace
By Paul Abbott
The Citadel basks in the aftermath of a diplomatic victory. Following the events of the Red Summit, Thorn returns to Gallifrey hailed as a symbol of Romana’s vision. A grand procession is held in his honour in the Capitol’s Plaza, with crowds gathered beneath shimmering banners of the Federation and the Gallifreyan seal flying side-by-side for the first time in centuries.
Thorn’s calm, statesmanlike demeanour is offset by Romana’s growing unease. While public sentiment is cautiously optimistic, factions within the High Council remain divided. Chancellor Varn insists this is the momentum the reform movement needs. But Cardinal Cindor, though quiet since the tribunal, reminds Romana privately: “It’s easier to win applause than loyalty.”
Across Gallifrey, reaction is mixed. In the Scholastic Halls of the Patrexes, students debate the future of Time Lord neutrality. In the Panopticon corridors, aides murmur about cultural erosion. The Prydonian Chapter continues to decline in influence, but now the Dromeian Chapter, long known for procedural rigidity, is becoming an unexpected mouthpiece for discontent.
Meanwhile, Inquisitor Malika investigates a routine security audit involving the Federation data-sharing protocols. What begins as a standard file review turns up a troubling anomaly: a classified directive issued from the Presidential Office during the run-up to the Mars summit. The directive authorised the redaction of Gallifrey’s temporal manipulation record from Federation archives, technically legal, but deeply unethical.
Following a trail of encryption and command chains, Malika confirms that the order originated from Romana herself. Worse, the deletion ensured Gallifrey would pass a trustworthiness test set by the Federation, effectively rigging the outcome of one of the summit’s most important votes.
Shaken, Malika confides in Jorvan, who insists she must bring the matter to light. “If you sit on this, you cease being Inquisitor. You become loyalist first, judge second.”
Romana is summoned for questioning under Article Twelve: presidential overreach. In the interrogation chamber, she offers no defence. “I did what was necessary,” she says. “Not for myself, for all of Gallifrey.”
Later that night, Malika sits alone with the data rod. She replays Romana’s statement again and again. Eventually, she makes a decision. She reassigns the command origin to several members of the Dromeian Chapter who had vocally opposed Federation cooperation. The tribunal proceeds with the focus now on a fabricated conspiracy by Dromeian hardliners to sabotage Gallifrey’s Federation bid.
The accused protest, but the trial goes ahead. Romana watches silently from the balcony. The people cheer as justice seems to be done. In the final scene, Malika visits Romana in her office. They don’t speak about what happened. Malika merely says: “I’m still your Inquisitor. But now I’m also your accomplice.”
Romana nods slowly, then turns to the window. Outside, Gallifrey gleams in the amber light of its twin suns. Peace has a price.
The Founding Shadow
By Gary Russell
Gallifrey stands on the edge of a new era. Following a string of diplomatic breakthroughs, Romana’s presidency appears to be stabilising. Chancellor Varn reports a measurable shift in interstellar relations, citing Federation trust ratings at an all-time high. Even the traditionally aloof Cerulean Chapter sends formal recognition of Romana’s leadership, a gesture not extended since her initial election.
Across the Capitol, a cautious optimism emerges. Gallifreyans gather in open forums to debate reform openly; the Panopticon’s public gallery is filled for the first time in decades. A motion is passed for Gallifrey to host a sub-summit of the Galactic Federation within the Citadel itself, a symbolic show of confidence in the planet’s future role.
Romana, however, remains unsettled. She confides in Thorn, expressing concerns that stability is often the quiet before the storm. “Gallifrey doesn’t change quietly,” she tells him. “It waits... and then it resists.” Her words prove prophetic.
A system-wide alert strikes the Citadel. An unauthorised TARDIS breaches temporal security, emerging from the ancient Cruciform. The seal of Rassilon appears on every monitor in the Capitol. And then, without ceremony, he returns. Rassilon, played by Michael Praed, steps out into the Plaza to stunned
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silence. Though presumed lost in the Time War, the Founder of Time Lord society walks Gallifrey’s soil once more. Cardinal Cindor is the first to kneel. He addresses Rassilon as “Lord President.” Around them, murmurs of awe and confusion swell into cheering. The old myths live again. Romana meets Rassilon formally in the High Council chamber. He expresses interest in her reforms, but his tone is dispassionate, his questions pointed. He speaks of Gallifrey’s “true purpose” and calls neutrality “a coward’s compromise.” Romana remains composed, but the power in the chamber has visibly shifted.
Later, in the Vault of Ancient Law, Rassilon meets privately with senior Council members. Though no official declaration is made, rumours spread quickly: he intends to stand for the presidency. Romana watches as support for her quietly fractures. Even those who once doubted Cindor begin drifting into Rassilon’s orbit.
Rassilon arrives uninvited at the Presidential office. He and Romana speak alone for the first time. “You’ve done well,” he tells her, “in your own way. But Gallifrey is not meant to follow. It is meant to rule.” Romana replies calmly: “Not anymore.”
Rassilon turns to the window, looking out over the Citadel. “Then we will see,” he says, “whether history remembers you… or forgets you.”
He leaves. Romana stands alone at her window, staring out at the planet she still calls hers. The suns set on Gallifrey once more.
The Citadel was a surprise hit for the BBC, drawing critical acclaim and strong viewership averaging over 6 million. Praised for its bold political storytelling and rich character work, the series was hailed as “Doctor Who meets The West Wing.” Sarah Alexander’s performance as Romana earned her a BAFTA nomination, while Charles Abomeli’s Thorn became a breakout favourite, with comparisons being drawn to Captain Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Critics applauded the show’s mature themes, striking production design, and David Arnold’s sweeping score. The finale’s return of Rassilon cemented the series’ impact on the wider Doctor Who universe.
Doctor Who: Series 9
Series Nine of Doctor Who would’ve seen the final outing for Hannah Spearritt as Elsie Ward, Spearritt joined the cast back in 2007 and was originally gonna leave at the end of last year’s Christmas Special before changing her mind.
Elsewhere Peter Bennett replaced Phil Collinson as Producer.
The Dalek Revival
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor and Ashley land on a forgotten science station drifting at the edge of deep space, the Doctor
and Ashley would meet a research team who would investigate the station and would encounter a sole human survivor. The raving madman speaks of a resurrection of something terrible and the Doctor is horrified when a squad of Daleks arrive.
The Doctor, Ashley, the crew and the madman being taken prisoner by the Daleks, it would turn out the base code for Dalek revival lies here, deep within the mainframe of a computer fighting for its newfound sentience. The story would turn into a prison break story with the Doctor and co. trying to fight the Daleks, towards the end of the story everyone, apart from the Doctor and Ashley, are dead and Ashley would use the computer and programme the sentience to help detonate the station and destroy the base code.
Planet of The Dead
By Gareth Roberts
The Doctor and Elsie arrive in London but the TARDIS dematerialises to a random location due to the HADS, forcing the two to go by a Bus, the bus passes through a wormhole and ends up on the desert planet San Helios. The Doctor contacts UNIT to return the other passengers safely to Earth. The Doctor and Elsie scout ahead, while the others attempt to repair the bus, and are taken to a wrecked spaceship by two alien Tritovores. The Doctor realises that a swarm of stingray-like aliens that feed by destroying the ecosystem is approaching them. The spaceship is revealed to have been crashed by the stingrays, who kill the Tritovores. The Doctor then realises that the wormhole was created by the stingrays to move to their next feeding planet; Earth. With the swarm nearly on them, the Doctor uses technology from the spaceship and the chalice to enable the bus to fly. They fly back through the wormhole just as UNIT closes it, but not before three stingrays get through, which UNIT quickly kill. The TARDIS is also returned as it was found on the grounds of Buckingham Palace.
Hothouse
By Jonathan Morris
Former musician Alex Marlowe leads a project attempting to genetically engineer a new Krynoid strain that would cause the physiological changes induced by the Krynoid infection to still take place, including granting the power to control plants, while keeping the victim's original consciousness intact. The project was a failure. It produced a type of Krynoid with a far higher metabolism.
It completed its life-cycle in a single hour, not the day normal Krynoids took. Fortunately, the new Krynoid strain had an unexpected weakness in that high-pitched sounds, rather than just causing it pain, allowed the victim's consciousness to re-assert itself for a brief period. The Doctor is able to exploit this weakness and destroys Marlowe and his new Krynoids.
Wirrn Dawn
By Nicholas Briggs
The Doctor and Elsie accidentally end up on a space station in the future, the Doctor discovers that he and Elsie have arrived during Humanity’s war against the Wirrn. The story sees the Doctor, Elsie and a group of soldiers trying to survive and stop the Wirrn, they also try to help another soldier named Farroll who’s been attacked by a Wirrn.
We later discover that the Wirrn that attacked Farroll injected her with a Wirrn egg which is slowly turning her into a Wirrn, one of the soldiers thinks they should kill Farroll but Elsie believes it to be wrong and protects her. Farroll later transforms into a queen Wirrn and with the Queen remembering Farroll’s memories and what Elsie did, the Doctor manages to make peace between the two races.
The Autumn of Terror
By Joseph Lidster
The Doctor and Elsie arrive in Whitechapel in 1888, they arrive in the aftermath of Jack The Ripper’s third and fourth murders. The Doctor then convinces Elsie to find out who the Ripper really was, the two
play the role of detectives as they try to find out who he is and they eventually find him on the night of the fifth murder. It turns that Jack is a man named James Hines who was taken over by an alien that latched onto his brain, after they catch him Hines gets away and the Doctor and Elsie proceed to find but get separated, James takes Elsie hostage and the Doctor later traces James and Elsie down to Big Ben at the top of the Belfry. The Doctor and James fight and The Doctor tackles James out the glass clock, the Doctor manages to hold on and get back in the Belfry but James slips and falls to his death.
Fear The Darkness
By Gary Russell
The Doctor and Elsie arrive in the Space Museum and the Doctor tells Elsie about his first ever visit, however he notices people becoming scared of the blocked off sectors in the museum, turns out the Vashta Nerada are slowly taking over the Museum. The Doctor and Elsie would try to stop the Vashta Nerada but in the end the Doctor would ultimately fail and the planet is left to the Vashta Nerada.
Solitaire
By John Dorney
The TARDIS is taken to the Celestial Toyroom, the Toymaker forced a once-again amnesiac Elsie to play
his games whilst the Doctor was turned into a puppet. She eventually realised that the Toymaker was actually the one playing the Toyroom's game and was able to defeat him and escape in the TARDIS with the Doctor.
This is a Doctor-lite story and only has two cast members: Hannah Spearritt as Elsie and Murray Melvin as the Toymaker.
Seasons of Fear
By Paul Cornell and Caroline Symcox
The Doctor and Elsie arrive in London at a party, during the party the Doctor meets Sebastian Grayle who claims to have killed the Doctor in his future and his masters have taken over the Earth. The Doctor tells Elsie about the encounter and form a plan to stop Grayle and his Masters.
Their search leads to 305 AD, where they uncover Grayle's origins in a Roman cult promising immortality. After a narrow escape, they trace his next attempt to 11th-century London, where Grayle, disguised as a noble, plans to poison King Edward and Queen Edith with plutonium. With help from the royals, the Doctor thwarts Grayle again, ending in a dramatic rooftop confrontation.
The Victory of Grayle
By Paul Cornell and Caroline Symcox
After narrowly defeating Grayle, who vanishes into the river, the Doctor and Elsie travel to 19th-century Buckinghamshire, where they track Grayle to the Hellfire caves. There, masquerading as nobility, they reunite with him—now a cult leader—and accept his oddly cordial invitation to stay. The Doctor suspects Grayle is close to his goal and begins probing for answers. A duel erupts after the Doctor insults Grayle’s fiancée, and the Doctor wounds him using an alien blade. Grayle flees with Lucy, intending to sacrifice her to his masters—the Nimon. As a gateway opens and the Nimon arrive, chaos unfolds. Lucy and her father had been conning Grayle, and she helps the Doctor escape with the TARDIS team. Grayle frees the Nimon using the psionic oscillator, but the Doctor sacrifices himself, plunging into the time vortex. He lands in the 3rd century, warns the Roman cult of the Nimon, and reunites with Graylisle, who ultimately kills his future self. The Nimon are destroyed, the machine dismantled, and the timeline restored.
The Waters of Mars
By Phil Ford
The Doctor and Elsie arrive on Mars in 2059, near humanity's first Martian colony, "Bowie Base One". They arrive at the base, where they are detained by Captain Adelaide Brooke. As the crew interrogates them, the Doctor discovers that today, the base will explode, killing the entire crew. They try to stay uninvolved, but Adelaide forces them to assist. Two crewmen appear to be in a zombie-like state, generating copious amounts of water. With the remaining crew uninfected, Adelaide orders the crew to evacuate their rocket back to Earth while setting the base to self-destruct. The Doctor explains to Adelaide what he knows and why he cannot get involved, and begins to leave, much to the protest of Elsie. Ed, the rocket's pilot, is infected, and sacrifices himself by causing the rocket to self-destruct, stranding the remaining crew. Elsie convinces him to go back and The Doctor rescues Adelaide and the two surviving crew, Yuri and Mia. The Doctor and Elsie return them to Earth. The Doctor and Adelaide have a talk as Elsie goes back inside the TARDIS, the Doctor insists that he has the power to change the future of the human race and no-one can stop him; Adelaide returns home and kills herself, leaving history mostly unchanged. The Doctor ends up lying to Elsie, telling her that Adelaide went home, but the Doctor realises he’s gone too far.
Lost Future
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor and Elsie arrive at the Europa research station after communication suddenly stops. The crew insist on scanning both to confirm they are human, and when the Doctor’s alien nature is revealed, he is detained for security reasons. Elsie’s scan shows that one of the missing scientists is her descendant. The scientists explain that a deep drilling operation released a dormant creature trapped beneath the ice feeding on the station’s power and threatening to destroy the base.
With the Doctor imprisoned, Elsie works with the crew to find a way to stop it. They learn the only option is to activate a containment device located inside a flooded pressure chamber deep within the station. Elsie volunteers to enter the chamber to save her descendant. As she triggers the device, water floods the area rapidly. Over the intercom, she says a quiet goodbye to the Doctor before becoming trapped beneath the rising water. Despite his desperate attempts, the Doctor cannot reach her in time. Once she dies, her descendant disappears, having been wiped from history.
The Doctor returns to the TARDIS and punches the console in a rage.
Confession
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor traps himself inside a confession dial to punish himself for Elsie’s death. Inside, he wakes in a maze made from his own memories. At first, he finds himself reliving a moment with Elsie inside the TARDIS, but the memory quickly distorts and shifts, showing him all the death he has caused. As he moves deeper, the maze rearranges around each failure he has made. Each room is a different memory, in one the Doctor hears Tegan leave him because of the violence and in another he sees a room with pictures of every companion who died in his name.
The Doctor revisits every failure, mentally wearing himself down. Finally, after centuries of walking, he reaches the memory of Elsie’s death that lets him break free. The Time Lords recover him just as the maze collapses, and Romana greets him on Gallifrey.
In Plain Sight
By Steven Moffat
As Gallifrey reels from the Doctor’s return and the psychological wounds left by his self-imposed torment in the confession dial, Romana finds herself under increasing political pressure. Rassilon’s reappearance has ignited a fervour among the traditionalist factions, and whispers of a leadership
challenge become a steady drumbeat. Though outwardly respectful, Rassilon moves subtly, never speaking of power but allowing others to do so in his name. Romana seeks allies on the High Council, but finds former supporters wavering. When an encrypted stasis chamber beneath the Capitol is breached and three senior Council members vanish, a shadowy conspiracy is uncovered, one pointing to an attempted coup. Yet no evidence links it to Rassilon. The Time Lord who once ruled through fear now advances through myth, his fingerprints never found. In the chaos, the Master, arriving back on Gallifrey, sows her own brand of discord across the Capitol’s systems. She whispers dangerous truths in the ears of ambitious junior officials and leaves behind only riddles and wreckage. Meanwhile, Romana begins receiving anonymous warnings, cloaked in old Gallifreyan code, hinting at deeper layers to the plot than even she suspects.
The Doctor, though still haunted by visions of Elsie, finds himself reluctantly drawn back into politics, not as a player, but as a reluctant conscience. He warns Romana that Gallifrey's sickness may be deeper than any one man. Rassilon calls for a leadership referendum on the Prydonian’s direction, an election to “legitimise” his presence and though Romana agrees, she recognises it as a battlefield dressed as democracy. The Master, now at large, watches from the shadows, amused by the chaos she helped stoke and plotting her next play among the stars. As election banners are raised across the Citadel, the scars of the coup remain unresolved, quietly buried by those who fear what deeper truths might reveal. A symbolic fire is lit in the Panopticon to “cleanse the Capitol,” but the smoke carries unease. The Doctor departs Gallifrey once more, unsure if he’s leaving it in safer hands or abandoning it to its fate. In his TARDIS, he glimpses one last vision of Elsie, her smile a comfort as he dematerialises.
Bang-Bang-a-Boom!
By Steven Moffat and Clayton Hickman
Before the 309th Intergalactic Song Contest, the Angvians and the Gholos were attempting to make peace. Angvian terrorists posed a threat to any peaceful activities. In order to cope, two peace conferences were set up. One, on Achilles 4, was the obvious target for terrorists. The second was the Intergalactic Song Contest, where the Golos and Angvian competitors would telepathically communicate with each other without their knowledge. Despite the attempts of a Golos-sympathising terrorist, the peace conference succeeded.
The contest itself is hosted by Logan, until he is killed by Loozly, at which point it was hosted by Lieutenant Strindberg. It was watched by over a quinquillion people across the universe.
The competitors are a competitor from Algol 7, Angvia of Angvia, the Breebles, a Cephalopod, Cyrene, a Drahvin from Drahva, Gholos of Golos, and Nicky Newman of Earth.
The final winner of the Song Contest is Nicky.
Series Nine of Doctor Who was yet another success, Paterson Joseph was now firmly established as a popular Doctor and Steven Moffat as a popular showrunner. The Waters of Mars was by far the standout of the season, with Confession and In Plain Sight were recognised as compelling finale. Hannah Spearritt’s Elsie was also received as a popular companion, with her story being quite well received.
2010
The Citadel - Series 2
Following on from the success of Series One, The Citadel return for it’s second season in February 2010 running for eight weeks, however Gary Russell would leave the post of showrunner as he would be taking over the showrunner position of Doctor Who as Steven Moffat decided to step down after running the show since 2005.
A main part of this series’ story would follow on from the finale of series 1 and the finale of Doctor Who Series 9 where Rassilon returned and a Leadership Referendum was called in the Prydonian Chapter which would pit Romana and Rassilon against each other, as well as a few other bits in the series.
As Russell wanted this series to be more fleshed out, he introduced, or re-introduced, a new set of recurring characters. These characters were Harriet Walters as Senra, the leader of the Cerulean Chapter and Leader of the Opposition. She's formidable and wise, but she’s a main reason why the Cerulean chapter hasn't been getting the polling votes they wanted. She appeared a few times in Series One, but is a main character here.
Chipo Chung would be introduced as Anwyn, Deputy Leader of the Opposition. James Murray as Vekros, a member of the Cerulean chapter who’s ready to bring down Senra as he’s desperate for the Cerulean Chapter to get back into office, with the help of Orven, played by Daniel Ings. Alex Hassell as Vassik, another Cerulean member who wants Senra out as quickly as possible, with James Bradshaw as Merad, an old school party member knowing nothing is ever simple in politics.
James Bradshaw would play Ryl, leader of the Patrex party. Tom Burke would play Halvar, a Patrex member who is constantly pushing for Outsider’s to be brought into Citadel life, though facing challenges and considering swapping parties, with Samantha Bond as Nirell, another Patrex chapter member.
Michael Maloney as Deyran, the newly elected leader of the Scendeles Party, who’s views on Gallifrey give the Scendeles chapter a massive polling boost that puts them as 3rd party choice, finally beating out Patrex for the first time in years and who’s policies push for a more lenient, a more liberal and a very vocal Gallifrey, then there’s Hermione Norris as Revix, another Scendeles member and quite popular within the Citadel.
On top of that, Michael Praed would return as Rassilon, with his character being built up more and more throughout the series and Tony Gardner as Cassian Vennor, a man who works closely with Thorn in trying to bring Gallifrey into the fold of more universal affairs and tries to work towards being elected as leader of the Galactic Federation.
A Voice for Gallifrey
By Gary Russell
As dawn breaks over the Citadel, Gallifrey enters a new era of uncertainty. Following Rassilon’s return, the High Council formally announces the commencement of a Leadership Referendum, the first in centuries, sparking political unrest across the Capitol. Romana remains President, but her authority is openly challenged by her former Lord President, now a candidate for reinstatement.
The Prydonian Chapter, once dominant but now fractured, calls emergency conclaves across the Outer Wards, while public forums overflow with debates about Rassilon’s legacy and Romana’s reforms. Outside the Citadel, graffiti appears for the first time in generations: “One Time Lord, One Voice.”
Senra, Leader of the Opposition, delivers a fiery address in the Panopticon. She refuses to support either Romana or Rassilon, decrying the referendum as a “vanity contest between two fading icons.” Her deputy, Anwyn, urges a more pragmatic course, but Vekros and Vassik already conspire to remove Senra, quietly reaching out to Patrex members about a possible coalition.
Meanwhile, Romana convenes with Thorn, Jorvan, and Varn in her private chamber. Thorn warns her the Galactic Federation will see instability as weakness. “If Gallifrey descends into old rivalries, they’ll look elsewhere for leadership.”
Romana addresses the people directly in a broadcast from the Chamber of Echoes, invoking Gallifrey’s responsibility to the wider universe. “We are Time Lords. We do not retreat into myth. We shape the future.”
Elsewhere, Rassilon holds a private audience with Cardinal Cindor. With calm conviction, he outlines his vision: a return to Gallifrey’s ‘golden supremacy’: timeless, unyielding, and above universal compromise. Cindor, visibly moved, pledges his support.
In a hushed Senate chamber, polling dates are announced. Outside, the Capitol is awash with banners: red for Romana, gold for Rassilon. On a balcony, Senra looks out over the city. “They won’t remember what we said,” she tells Anwyn. “Only what we failed to stop.”
The war for Gallifrey’s soul has begun.
A Thousand Voices
By Simon Nye
Campaign fever grips Gallifrey as the first round of the Prydonian Leadership Referendum begins. Eight candidates stand, each symbolising a different vision for the Chapter's future. Among them: Romana, running on a platform of cautious reform; Rassilon, whose silent presence is already commanding; Lysian, a young radical demanding demilitarisation of the Time Lords; and Ardac, a staunch traditionalist. As debates rage across the Capitol, Lysian and Ardac are eliminated in a dramatic first-round vote, leaving six contenders and rising tensions.
Romana’s campaign leans on diplomacy and stability, but cracks are forming. Public debates are growing hostile. Anonymous memos from Chapter aides start leaking to the press, revealing infighting, inconsistent polling, and accusations of data manipulation.
Meanwhile, within the Cerulean Chapter, Senra is beginning to wobble. At a press conference, she mistakenly attributes a Scendeles policy on universal access to temporal stabilisation technology as her own, drawing ire from both allies and opponents. Vekros pounces, briefing against her behind closed doors. Orven and Vassik quietly plan a challenge to her leadership. Only Anwyn remains loyal, but she’s increasingly marginalised.
In a quieter, more personal thread, a low-ranking civil clerk named Halio becomes the centre of an internal memo trail. Halio, a quiet, methodical assistant in the Department of Temporal Affairs, had previously flagged inconsistencies in vote transparency protocols tied to the referendum. His concerns were ignored, then mocked. As Malika reviews a chain of internal messages, she finds a growing pattern of ridicule, exclusion, and dismissiveness directed at Halio from multiple aides, some high-ranking.
When Halio is reported to have taken extended medical leave without explanation, Malika grows uneasy. The bullying is subtle, institutional, and disturbingly widespread. "He raised a concern," she tells Jorvan. "And they made sure he'd never raise another."
Malika doesn’t go public, yet, but begins quietly collating the evidence. Aides squirm under routine questions. One breaks down when asked about an anonymous forum post mocking him.
Elsewhere, Thorn and Cassian Vennor face diplomatic backlash over Gallifrey’s Federation ties. Despite their efforts, planetary delegates raise concerns about Gallifrey’s fractured leadership. Cassian warns Romana: “You can’t lead the universe if you can’t lead your own people.”
Romana remains composed, but her campaign is beginning to fray. Meanwhile, Rassilon refuses interviews, refuses to debate, and says nothing. His silence is seen by many as strength.
The two eliminated candidates exit the Panopticon. Romana walks through the Capitol flanked by aides. Overhead, banners from all eight campaigns still flap in the air. As she passes, someone has scrawled “VOID OF TRUST” over hers.
Far from the noise, Malika reads Halio’s file again. A single line in his resignation note: “I tried to do the right thing. I wasn’t strong enough.”
She quietly locks the report away, but not forever.
A Voice Silenced
By Jack Thorne
As the Prydonian Leadership Referendum enters its final rounds, the Capitol is buzzing. Speeches are sharper, rhetoric bolder, and the divide between the candidates more visceral. Romana stands as the voice of experience and vision, while Rassilon remains the silent monolith, his campaign speaking for him in tones of legacy and destiny.
But political tension is pierced by tragedy. Halio, the junior clerk whose concerns about the voting protocol had been ignored and quietly mocked, is found dead in his residence. A statement from the Bureau of Records confirms what most already suspected: suicide.
The news spreads fast. An emergency session of the High Council is convened. Tributes flood in: impersonal, safe, carefully worded. Romana issues a statement calling Halio “a valued servant of the Capitol.” Rassilon offers none. But the tone of the Panopticon has changed.
Inquisitor Malika is devastated. She had kept Halio’s case quiet, waiting for the right time, and now it’s too late. She presents her findings to the Ethics Sub-Committee: archived messages, peer reviews that were doctored, derisive annotations from senior aides, and private memos mocking Halio’s speech patterns. An institutional culture of humiliation laid bare.
As the investigation deepens, more names come to light, including high-ranking campaign officers from several candidates. Whispers suggest Romana’s own campaign office may not be blameless.
Inside the Cerulean Chapter, Senra’s grip on leadership further weakens. A gaffe during a memorial speech, referring to Halio as “a minor figure, but deeply regrettable” draws fury from across the political spectrum. Anwyn begs her to step aside from public duties temporarily. Vekros and Orven move swiftly, pressing for a vote of no confidence.
The second round of the leadership vote looms. Gallifrey watches nervously. Candidates drop out or are forced out under scrutiny: two more fall, including a former frontrunner whose campaign director is found to have joked about Halio in internal messages. By week’s end, only two names remain on the Prydonian ballot: Romana and Rassilon.
Romana doesn’t celebrate. In her office, she watches an old internal transmission: Halio, presenting a report with visible nervousness, stumbling on his words but persistent. “It’s not about politics,” he says in the clip. “It’s about doing what’s right for Gallifrey, even if it’s uncomfortable.”
Outside, a candlelight vigil has formed in The Plaza. Students, aides, civil servants, hundreds gather, silently honouring Halio.
Romana steps to the balcony and looks down at them. Across the plaza, she sees Rassilon, standing just beyond the crowd, watching her.
In the final shot, Halio’s unfinished report, about electoral transparency protocols, sits on Malika’s desk, marked Pending Further Review.
A storm is coming.
The Last Tour
By Sarah Phelps
The Cerulean Chapter is in freefall.
In the wake of Halio’s death and the fallout from the leadership vote, public faith in Gallifreyan institutions wavers. Nowhere is the damage more acute than in the Cerulean Chapter. Their long-time leader Senra, whose polling numbers have plummeted to a record-low 13%, is determined to halt the slide.
Senra embarks on what her aides brand the “Confidence Circuit”: a six-day tour of Gallifrey’s outer sectors, from the industrial domes of Prylon’s Belt to the scorched plains of Mount Solace. She’s not travelling alone, at her side is Anwyn, her loyal deputy, whose role is carefully presented to the media as a gesture of unity. In reality, it’s a test: can Senra still inspire?
At each stop, Senra meets miners, archivists, students, and dissidents. Her speeches are measured and sincere, repeating the same message: “We must face our failings with courage, not shame.” Anwyn listens closely, nodding supportively. But something feels off. Crowds are smaller than expected. Local chapters seem under-briefed. In some locations, anti-Cerulean demonstrators arrive just before broadcast, disrupting events with surgical precision.
Behind the scenes in the Capitol, the machinery turns. Vekros and Orven maintain a facade of outward respect for Senra, but are meeting daily with Vassik and Merad. Together, they orchestrate a quiet revolt. Merad leaks party spending reports that paint the tour as extravagance; Vekros ensures that negative polling hits the newsfeeds just before each rally; Orven spins statements to make Senra appear out of touch. All is done with plausible deniability. "Bad optics," they say. "Poor timing." None dare whisper the truth aloud.
Anwyn, still loyal, senses something is wrong. Her conversations with local Cerulean members are tense, questions about party finances, trust, and Senra’s recent judgement echo at every stop. “This is sabotage,” Anwyn murmurs to Senra one night. “Or an avalanche. And I can’t tell which.”
Senra, refusing to be shaken, pivots.
From a lectern in the Cloistered Forum on day five, she calls for a full-scale inquiry into Halio’s death. “We must not protect ourselves from discomfort,” she says. “If we ever wish to deserve the people’s trust again.”
But the move backfires. Ryl of the Patrex Chapter calls the speech “a distraction.” Deyran of the Scendeles declares it “cowardly theatre.” Most damningly, Vassik arranges for an internal Cerulean memo, one quietly seeded with slanted polling to be leaked, showing that over a third of Cerulean MPs now support a leadership transition.
The final blow comes at a rally in Varn’s Reach. A well-timed walkout by student activists, encouraged behind closed doors by Orven’s media allies, disrupts the speech and becomes a viral embarrassment. “Gallifrey wants leadership, not regret,” a commentator declares.
That night, Anwyn pleads with Senra to confront the Chapter. But Senra has already decided. “They don’t need to knife me,” she says quietly. “They’ve already taken the crown.”
The next morning, Senra resigns in a broadcast from her office. “I have served as best I could,” she says. “But Gallifrey’s future cannot wait for me to catch up to it.”
Anwyn is named interim leader. Vekros and Orven do not celebrate publicly. In a quiet corridor, Vassik mutters, “Phase one complete.” Senra’s shuttle lifts off at dawn, alone.
Change has come. But not all of it is welcome.
Leak Point
By James Moran
The Prydonian Chapter stands at a crossroads.
With the leadership race down to Romana and Rassilon, the campaign enters its most visible stage yet. Public addresses, Senate forums, and coordinated broadcasts are scheduled across the Capitol. Rassilon's campaign is grand, invoking legacy, discipline, and Gallifrey's “forgotten greatness.” His slogans are etched in High Gallifreyan glyphs, his appearances choreographed like a return of empire.
Romana counters with quiet persistence, doubling down on her reformist record. She appears in sectors hit hardest by the recent unrest, offering pragmatic policy rather than rhetoric. “The future,” she says, “must be earned, not inherited.”
But beneath the speeches and photo-ops, unease simmers. In the wake of Senra’s resignation, the Halio tragedy is no longer seen as just a Cerulean failure. Prydonian figures begin whispering that oversight was mishandled by the High Council.
Chancellor Varn urges restraint. Cardinal Cindor, notably, supports a motion for an internal ethics review, but only if it can be “controlled.”
Meanwhile, Anwyn, now interim leader of the Ceruleans, has been quietly cooperating with Malika. A trove of data from Senra’s Confidence Circuit begins circulating among mid-level clerks, one file in particular catching attention: a chain of restricted communications involving Halio, senior aides, and the Prydonian chapter office.
The file is leaked. Within hours, it floods the Citadel. Though heavily redacted, it implies Halio was coerced into procedural silence over internal bullying, and may have reached out for help days before his death. Crucially, it suggests that elements within the Prydonian chapter suppressed it to avoid scandal during the leadership contest.
Romana is blindsided during a mid-campaign panel. She condemns the leak “not for its exposure, but for its cruelty” and calls for compassion. Rassilon, seizing the opportunity, claims this proves “how far Gallifrey’s current leadership has fallen into complacency.”
Malika calls an emergency inquiry. The move is met with both praise and panic. For the first time in decades, an Inquisitorial Tribunal is announced before a formal vote. It will investigate not just Halio’s death, but systemic failures within the Chapters. Malika warns the High Council: “This is not a reckoning of one man’s death, it’s an audit of Gallifrey’s conscience.”
In private, aides scramble. Jorvan demands to know how the file was leaked. Cindor assures the Prydonian leadership that containment is still possible, though whether he believes this is another matter. Amid the fallout, Romana and Rassilon meet briefly in the Cloister Hall of Echoes. It is a chance encounter, or so it seems as they exchange words.
The inquiry looms. So does the vote, and in the shadows, more files remain unopened.
The Long Table
By Adrian Hodges
The Inquisition Tribunal convenes under the vaults of the Cerulean Dome, an austere, echoing chamber reserved for high-profile civic interrogations. The Panopticon remains eerily quiet. The Citadel holds its breath.
Chairs are filled with the key political figures tied to the Halio scandal. Anwyn, now interim Cerulean leader. Cindor, towering in Prydonian red. Orven and Vassik, feigning indifference. Merad, weary and defensive. Ryl, representing the Patrexes with performative clarity.
Inquisitor Malika presides. Cold, methodical, and flanked by two silent CIA auditors, she opens the proceedings with a simple charge: “This is not about Halio’s death. This is about who refused to see it coming.”
Testimonies begin.
Anwyn speaks first. Calm but rehearsed, she paints Senra’s final months as “isolated and erratic,” attempting to redirect the inquiry to broader party dysfunction. But under cross-examination, inconsistencies in Anwyn’s communications with Halio begin to emerge, specifically a deleted transcript from three days before Halio’s death that was flagged but never logged.
Cindor follows, visibly annoyed. He denies direct involvement in any personnel management relating to Halio. Malika produces a signed memo from his office recommending Halio for “temporary reassignment for stress and disharmony.” Cindor claims it was drafted by a junior aide. The aide, later in the episode, refutes that.
Orven is measured and brief. He distances himself from internal Cerulean handling and points to his own vote supporting a welfare audit three weeks prior. His record holds. Vassik backs him up. They remain unscathed.
Ryl, poised and verbose, argues the inquiry itself is becoming politicised. “We cannot police empathy. But we must legislate safety.” He escapes without direct blame.
Merad, however, folds early. Under pressure, he contradicts earlier public statements about not knowing Halio was at risk. Malika then reveals an internal memo from Merad advising “party unity over personal outbursts” with Halio’s name attached in annotation.
By the session’s end, three testimonies have clearly diverged from the digital record.
Malika dismisses the chamber for recess. Alone with Jorvan, she lays down the next step: “They’ve perjured themselves under Inquisition scrutiny. I have no choice.”
In a closing statement before the Citadel Broadcast Network, she announces:
“I am referring Inquisitorial findings to the Celestial Intervention Agency. Anwyn of the Cerulean Chapter, Cardinal Cindor of the Prydonian Chapter, and Councillor Merad are now subject to a full investigation under Statute Eighty-Four. No one is above the stability of this world.”
As Malika leaves the dome, aides rush behind her. Across Gallifrey, feeds flicker as the news spreads.
Anwyn watches the announcement in silence from her quarters. Her reflection in the screen warps as the footage plays. Her hands do not tremble. But her future is already vanishing.
The Fallout
By Tom MacRae
The episode opens with shimmering dawnlight over the Capitol. But the light brings no warmth, only reckoning. Anwyn is arrested at the Cerulean Chapterhouse before the twin suns fully rise. Surrounded by silent CIA officers, she offers no resistance. Her expression is still unreadable. She’s charged with perjury, suppression of inquiry-relevant data, and abuse of position. Gallifreyan Newsfeeds interrupt morning programming with the footage.
Shortly after, Ryl of the Patrexes is charged with procedural obstruction following the unearthing of sealed transcripts from his department that cast doubt on his prior testimony. Outside the Patrex Archives, he issues a sharp statement:
“The law must be seen to work even on its most loyal servants. I will not step down. I will serve while under investigation. Gallifrey has seen worse.”
The Prydonian Court Assembly convenes for final deliberations before the leadership vote. Romana and Rassilon make their last appeals, Rassilon from the steps of the Vaults, invoking Gallifrey’s ancient honour. Romana from the Panopticon’s public steps, surrounded by young Prydonian reformists.
In private, Chancellor Varn meets Romana in her chambers, delivering Romana her formal endorsement. “Gallifrey needs your intellect and your caution more than his thunder and certainty,” he says. Touched, Romana responds with quiet conviction: “Then I’ll need you by my side. General Election’s next. Be my candidate for Deputy High President.” Varn nods, accepting without hesitation.
Meanwhile, Cindor is brought before a sealed tribunal, but his approach is shrewd. He leans heavily on technical ambiguity, highlighting contradictions between Federation procedural law and traditional Gallifreyan doctrine. His advocate exploits protocol gaps with precision. Ultimately, the tribunal is forced to dismiss charges on the grounds of procedural inconsistency. He exits the chamber smirking, political capital slightly bruised, but intact.
As the leadership polls open, Romana and Rassilon’s faces dominate the Citadel’s vistascreens. In cafés and lecture halls, citizens cast their votes on data slates. Commentary floods in. The Capitol holds its breath once more.
Late in the evening, Ryl emerges from his quarters, shaken. A panicked aide delivers news: the Scendeles Chapter has overtaken Patrex to become the third-largest force in the Citadel. By midnight, he resigns quietly, slipping a final message to the press: “I thought I could weather this storm. I was wrong. Forgive me.” In the final scene, Romana watches the votes being tallied from her office. Across the plaza, Rassilon speaks to a silent crowd. Neither looks at the other. Neither blinks.
The Will of The Chapter
By Gary Russell
The episode opens in silence. The stars above the Capitol pulse faintly as the twin suns rise. Inside the Panopticon, thousands of data-rods wait in sequence, each representing a voice in the most consequential Prydonian vote in centuries. The city is still, as if holding its breath.
Romana begins her day in quiet reflection, joined only by Chancellor Varn and Inquisitor Malika. She reads, drinks tea, and watches the suns filter through the glass dome of her chambers. Across the Citadel, Rassilon holds court in the Vault of Rassilon, surrounded by stalwarts of the old order. He says little. There’s a kind of serenity about him that unsettles even his closest advisors.
As counting begins, a solemn procession of officials feeds the rods into the Matrix tabulators under the watch of both the High Council and independent observers. Commentators across Gallifrey speculate on margins, turnout, and whether undecided votes will sway the outcome. Few expect a clear winner.
But when the final projection appears, broadcast live to vistascreens across the planet, it is undeniable:
Romana – 68.4%
Rassilon – 29.1%
Spoiled/Invalid – 2.5%
The result is not just a victory. It is a landslide. Gasps echo through the chamber. The silence is broken by a single Prydonian Councilwoman applauding. Then others join her. By the time Romana rises from her seat, the applause is thunderous. Rassilon does not speak. He lowers his head briefly, nods to the presiding Chancellor, and exits the chamber without a word.
That evening, Romana addresses a crowd from the Panopticon steps, Varn at her side. “This was never a contest of personalities. It was a reckoning with history. Gallifrey has chosen not to look backwards. From today, we lead not because we can, but because we must.” The crowd cheers, but behind the scenes, new movements begin.
Thorn and Cassian Vennor meet in a private observatory near the Galactic Diplomatic Annex. They sketch out the beginnings of a vast new initiative: a formalised Gallifreyan presence within the Federation’s Peace Assembly, with Romana as the public face and Cassian as its strategic lead. “If Gallifrey wants trust,” Thorn says, “then it must finally earn it.”
Meanwhile, Rassilon walks into the Cerulean Chapterhouse unannounced. The room still bears the marks of Senra’s collapse: empty chairs, hurriedly boxed files, aides whispering in corners. Vekros, Vassik, and Orven are waiting. Merad stands slightly apart.
They don’t vote. They don’t discuss. They simply acknowledge. And with that, Rassilon becomes leader of the Cerulean Chapter.
Back in the Capitol, Romana summons Cardinal Cindor to her office. She thanks him, measured and sincere, for his efforts during the inquiry and campaign. But she is firm: “When the General Election comes, you will not be my running mate. The people want transparency, not tactics.” Cindor bows slightly. “Then I’ll serve however I can. From wherever I’m permitted.”
He exits without protest. But his expression, tight-lipped, unreadable, suggests unfinished business.
As Gallifrey adjusts to the result, the first signs of tectonic change emerge. Romana’s landslide has redrawn the political map: the Prydonian reformists swell with momentum, the Ceruleans unify under Rassilon, and the Scendeles now stand as Gallifrey’s third force, their newfound popularity giving voice to the next generation of citizens.
The final scene shows Romana standing alone in her office, gazing out over the Plaza. Fireworks shimmer above the Plaza. Newsfeeds flash headlines:
ROMANA RECLAIMS PRYDONIAN LEADERSHIP
RASSILON TO HEAD CERULEANS
SCENDELES SURGE TO THIRD
As the suns set, Varn enters. “So,” she says. “What now?” Romana doesn’t look away from the window. “Now we begin again.”
Series Two of The Citadel marked a bold evolution in tone and scope, trading the ideological tensions of Series One for a more layered and ruthless political narrative. Praised for its ambition, Series Two was widely seen as darker, sharper, and more complex, with critics lauding its “merciless excavation of power politics” and “devastating character work.” The Halio scandal arc, and the public inquiry that followed, were received positively.
Ratings remained strong, holding steady from Series One with a noticeable uptick during the election arc and Anwyn’s arrest. Fans responded strongly to the finale, which delivered a twist victory for Romana and a new chapter for Rassilon as leader of the Cerulean Chapter, setting the stage for a volatile Series Three.
Series 10 of Doctor Who would’ve marked the end of an era for the show, Steven Moffat announced in 2009 that he was leaving the role of showrunner on Doctor Who after running the show since 2005. Originally Paterson Joseph was going to stay for a fourth year, however he eventually decided that it
would be better if he’d left with Moffat and so Christmas 2010 was marked as their final story.
For this series only, Moffat brought in Ashley Madekwe as Tamsin Daniels, a woman who works in a local pub.
Peter Bennett was also leaving after only two seasons, with Piers Wenger and Beth Willis joining as Executive Producers, Murray Gold was also announced to be leaving.
The Missing
By Steven Moffat
It’s here she meets the Doctor and she helps him investigate, it turns out a race of aliens known as ‘The Tavoks’ are using the humans or slave labour to help them in an intergalactic war, with the Master’s help. In the end the Doctor puts an end to their plans and saves the humans, the Master escapes however, Tamsin asks the Doctor if she can come with him to which he accepts.
The Beast Below
By Steven Moffat
The Doctor takes Tamsin to the distant future, where they explore the Starship UK: a spaceship holding the population of the United Kingdom after they fled Earth due to dangerous solar flares. They discover
that the ship is guided by a Star Whale, who is being tortured out of the fear that when left to make its own decisions it will abandon them.
Believing that the future cannot go on this way, the Doctor prepares to render the Star Whale brain-dead so it will continue to operate the ship but not feel pain. Tamsin discovers that it is willing to serve the ship, since it could not stand the children crying because of the solar flares.
Brave New Town
By Jonathan Clements
The Doctor and Tamsin land in the seaside town of Thornington in 1991, they later realise that the town is repeating the same day over and over again.
It turns out the year is 2008 and the people of the town are autons, we also learn the town is a testing ground in Uzbekistan.
The Eternity Trap
By Phil Ford
The Doctor and Tamsin meet Celeste Rivers to participate in a search for the ghosts of those taken by the spirit Erasmus Darkening, the Doctor found that he was not a ghost, but an alien who had become
trapped between dimensions due to Lord Marchwood damaging the machine he was using to try to get home. The Doctor destroyed him and the machine, allowing those trapped by Darkening to finally pass on.
Castle of Fear
By Alan Barnes
On Boxing Day, 1899, the Doctor and Tamsin witness a Mummer’s play in Stockbridge, only to be shocked when the Doctor himself appears as a character in the performance. Intrigued by a reference to a Turkish knight and the Doctor’s supposed powers, they investigate, uncovering connections to events in 1199 involving Hubert, posing as the Earl of Mummerset, and his companion Yavuz. As the Doctor and Tamsin travel back in time, they find the castle overrun by Rutans: shape-shifting alien enemies of the Sontarans, who are cloning humans to build an army. Joined by various figures including the duplicitous Hubert and the mysterious knight Roland, they confront battles, traps, and betrayals inside the ancient stronghold. Tamsin ultimately tricks the Rutans into overloading their power source, causing their castle-ship to launch prematurely. Returning to 1899, the Doctor and Tamsin discover lingering Rutan influence among the villagers, leading to a final confrontation aboard a decaying Rutan vessel. In a desperate bid to protect Earth, the Doctor launches the ship, narrowly escaping before it explodes.
The Eternal Summer
By Jonathan Morris
The Doctor and Tamsin try to stop a Rutan ship from exploding, but after a flash, they awaken in the English village of Stockbridge with no memory of how they got there. The villagers know them as longtime residents, yet time is behaving strangely, people recall different eras, events repeat, and tombstones have no dates. As the Doctor investigates, he discovers the village is trapped in a time loop inside a bubble created when he diverted the Rutan explosion. Meanwhile, outside the bubble, psychic investigator Lizzie Corrigan and her team find Stockbridge has been missing for 60 years. Tamsin is abducted but rescued by Lizzie, and they learn psychic ghosts are appearing due to the bubble’s instability. Inside, the Doctor finds the “Lord and Lady of the Manor” are future versions of himself and Tamsin, feeding off the villagers’ looping lives to preserve themselves. As the time bubble threatens to collapse and destroy Earth, the Doctor, Tamsin, and Lizzie work together to shut down the decaying warp-core. Maxwell Edison, a local conspiracy theorist, aids them, sacrificing his place in the real world to help save the village. In the end, Stockbridge is freed, the time bubble is undone, the ghosts disappear, and the Doctor and Tamsin quietly depart, leaving Maxwell to start a new life with Lizzie’s team.
Plague of The Daleks
By Mark Morris
After the explosion of the time bubble, the Doctor and Tamsin awaken in a seemingly familiar yet temporally unstable Stockbridge, now a tourist simulation run by Isaac and Lysette Barclay in the 45th century, where cloned villagers and artificial wildlife recreate an idyllic English village inside an
environment bubble. Strange events unfold: seasons shift unnaturally, clones malfunction, and acid rain begins turning villagers into zombie-like beings controlled by an alien microorganism. The Doctor suspects something deeper and soon uncovers the presence of Daleks, who have been hiding in cryogenic stasis, intending to use the TARDIS to revive their race. As Tamsin and Lysette fend off infected villagers and uncover the Dalek control lab, the Doctor is infected and captured. With Tamsin’s help, he escapes, programs a retro-antiviral into the weather system, and confronts the Daleks. One Dalek manipulates Lysette and Isaac, using their grief and desire for escape to control them. Isaac briefly regains humanity before sacrificing himself, and the final Dalek is destroyed by the antiviral mist. Overwhelmed by residual Dalek programming and grief, Lysette chooses to destroy the bubble and herself to prevent future danger. The Doctor and Tamsin flee in the TARDIS as Stockbridge is obliterated. Reflecting on the tragic cost of his frequent visits to Stockbridge, the Doctor is consoled by Tamsin, who urges him to seek happier times ahead.
The Vampires of Venice
By Toby Whithouse
The Doctor takes Tamsin to Venice in 1580. They meet Guido, a boat-builder whose daughter Isabella had entered the House of Calvierri girls' school. Guido is distressed because Isabella did not recognise him on the street and now has vampire-like fangs. The Doctor and Tamsin investigate the school and learn
that the city's patron, Rosanna Calvierri, is a fish-like alien and has sealed off Venice in an attempt to make it a refuge for her race after losing their home planet to the cracks in the universe. Rosanna transforms the girls admitted to her school into her race to be mates for ten thousand of her male children who are waiting in the water. Guido sacrifices his life to kill the girls from the school. Rosanna activates a machine to flood Venice, but the Doctor foils her. As the last female of her species, the hopeless Rosanna sacrifices herself to her male offspring.
The Shadows of Elysium
By Gary Russell
The Doctor is summoned to Gallifrey to stand trial for war crimes committed during the Time War, specifically concerning his actions on the jungle planet Elysium Delta. With his companion Tamsin watching from the gallery, the Doctor faces a tribunal led by Inquisitor Malika, while Lady President Romana oversees the proceedings. Though the case appears damning, Chancellor Varn unexpectedly acts in the Doctor’s defense, arguing that his actions, though unorthodox, may have prevented a greater
catastrophe. The court uses a Chrono-Window to project filmed flashbacks showing the Eighth Doctor embedded in a Vaerx resistance unit during the height of the Time War. In these flashbacks, the Doctor defies orders to abandon the Vaerx, crystalline beings linked to their jungle world and attempts to save them from destruction as both Daleks and Time Lords close in.
Despite his efforts, the planet appears lost and the Doctor is blamed for violating fixed points in time.
However, Varn presents evidence recovered from the Doctor’s TARDIS revealing that the Vaerx survived by shifting into a quantum fold of reality, saved by the Doctor’s desperate actions. The tribunal finds the Doctor not guilty, and Romana, though wary of his recklessness, thanks him for preserving Gallifreyan ideals.
The Doctor and Tamsin go back to the TARDIS and the Doctor is left on his own in the TARDIS as he remembers the war. The final scene sees the Eighth Doctor after he’s used the moment, he’s very weak and weary and we see him regenerate into the Ninth Doctor - Craig Kelly.
Vincent and The Doctor
By Richard Curtis
During a visit to the Musée d'Orsay in 2010, the Doctor finds a creature in the church window of Vincent van Gogh's The Church at Auvers. He takes Tamsin back to 1890 to meet Vincent, and to discover why the creature was in the painting. Welcoming them, Vincent works with the Doctor to find a lost, blind Krafayis, whom only Vincent can see.
Vincent kills the creature, although he empathises with its pain. Before they leave, the Doctor and Tamsin take Vincent to the present (where he discovers that people will admire him). This gives Tamsin hope that he created more paintings and did not commit suicide.
Devastated to learn that he still took his own life, she learns that one of his sunflower paintings was dedicated to her.
The Dark Path
By Tom MacRae
The Doctor and Tamsin land in the snowy mountains where they meet the nine Russian hikers, the Doctor’s horrified as they’ve landed in the Dyatlov Pass, where nine Russian hikers died in the northern Ural Mountains between February 1 and 2, 1959, under uncertain circumstances. It turns out that the Master was responsible after she set a beast loose in the mountains which causes superstition of a Yeti in the mountains. In the end the Doctor captures the beast by materialising around it into space as the nine hikers are now dead, three from injuries, six from hypothermia. The Doctor is beyond furious with the Master, but the Master relishes in the fact the Doctor couldn’t do anything because it’s history and the Doctor takes the master prisoner on board the TARDIS.
The Cost of Survival
By Steven Moffat
The TARDIS materialises on a street, seemingly on Earth during the winter. The Doctor, Tamsin and the Master are held at gunpoint for breaking curfew by Officer Jorj, it’s here Tamsin is shot and taken by the ambulance. The Doctor and the Master learn that Tamsin may be in danger as people who go to the hospital never come back and that he’s sorry for shooting their friend, the Master kills him to which the Doctor is furious about.
Tamsin awakens in a hospital with a replacement heart. Razor, the caretaker, explains that some of the patients are waiting to be "upgraded". Razor pretends to help Tamsin but tricks her into becoming the next "upgrade" subject.
Upon arriving at the hospital the Doctor and the Master split up, the Master learns that the planet is a twin of Earth: Mondas. Razor approaches her and insists she has been here before, and that the Doctor
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will never forgive her for what has happened to Tamsin. When she denies it, Razor removes his disguise revealing himself to be the Saxon Master.
The Doctor then finds an operating theatre where a "Mondasian" Cyberman, from when the Doctor first encountered them, emerges from a closet. The Cyberman identifies itself as formerly being Tamsin Daniels.
The Twin Planet
By Steven Moffat
Escaping to the countryside, the Doctor tries to comfort Tamsin, who has just retained her humanity. The group helps defend the villagers from the oncoming Cybermen in the countryside. The Doctor attempts to convince the Two Masters to help him. They refuse, though The Incumbent Master seems conflicted. Hoping to save the villagers, the Doctor tells them to get to safety. Tamsin opts to stay with the Doctor. Elsewhere, The Master betrays the Saxon Master by stabbing him in the back, triggering the regeneration process. He shoots her in return, killing her and preventing her regeneration. The Doctor fights off the Cybermen but is wounded in the process. He proceeds to blow up the forest, he’s gravely injured but more Cybermen are marching across the field, Tamsin fights them off and blows them all up, including herself, by now the Doctor is in pain and in tears.
The injured Doctor returns to the TARDIS, noticing his hand glowing in a gold light as he dematerialises.
Twice Upon A Time
By Steven Moffat
The First and Twelfth Doctors meet in Antarctica, both of them refusing to regenerate. A man appears in the mist, it is Ian Chesterton, taken by the Time Lords from 2010 to be a familiar face to both of them.
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He warns them that their refusal to regenerate has created a paradox that is unraveling history across the universe, the Doctor never exists.
Ian explains that a sentient Gallifreyan archive designed to store every version of the Doctor, now fearing its own erasure, has locked the Doctors in a mostly stable pocket timeline to persevere itself. The group begins to encounter manifestations of what might happen without the Doctor and how many people would suffer without their help.
The Twelfth Doctor returns to his TARDIS, he gives some advice to himself: Basic stuff: Never be cruel, never be cowardly, and never, ever eat pears! Remember, hate is always foolish, and love is always wise. Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind. Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind. "Look after the universe for me, I've put a lot of work into it". The Doctor then regenerates as his appearance changes into the Thirteenth Doctor - Martin Shaw.
Series 10 another successful year, with Paterson Joseph and Steven Moffat leaving on a high. Overall Joseph’s Doctor would be quite popular with the general public, but doesn’t reach the heights of French, Baker and Pertwee.
The Sarah Jane Mysteries: Series Seven
Series Seven of the Sarah Jane Mysteries premiered in late 2010, with Elisabeth Sladen, Yasmin Bannerman, David Tennant, Jo-Stone Fewings, Georgia Moffett and Tyger Drew-Honey all returning for the seventh year.
Revenge of the Slitheen
By Gareth Roberts
This is the same as it is in real life, though with a few differences.
The Day of The Clown
By Phil Ford
Again it is the same as it is in real life, though with a few differences.
The Children of Blackmire Rise
By Rupert Laight
This story would’ve seen the gang investigate a council estate, where all the occupants are taken over by an alien egg.
The Hungry Earth
By Chris Chibnall
This is the same as it is in real life, although again with differences to the story. The story is set in 2008, not 2020. Sarah would be in the Doctor’s role, Ashley would be in Amy’s role and the rest would be in different roles. There’s no TARDIS, so there’s a teleporter in one of the caves.
Cold Blood
By Chris Chibnall
Again, it’s the same but with changes. People who live in the village want the Silurians blown up, but Sarah and the gang want a peaceful coalition. The Silurian weaponry isn’t turned off by a sonic screwdriver so everyone has to work their way round the laser fire and nobody dies.
Conquest
By Russell T Davies and Phil Ford
The story basically sees the Trickster back again as he turns Sarah’s house into a labyrinth-like castle with different mazes where the gang have to try and get out of the maze and activate a device which will save the Earth from a meteor, which they do. At the end of the episode, Sarah and the gang are having a BBQ at the top of a hill and talking about their escapades, Sarah says “Life on Earth can be an adventure too, you just need to know where to look.”
The Mystery of The Magician’s Garden
By Adrian Hodges
Retired worldwide famous magician Eliza Rayne, once known as the Silver Hawk, dies under bizarre circumstances in her snowy garden. Her husband swears he saw her alive minutes earlier, but there are no footprints in the snow, and UNIT’s analysis reveals a time of death six hours earlier. The only clue? A strange, pulsing, star-shaped burn in the frost where her body lay.
Sarah Jane suspects alien involvement and brings her team, Ashley, Tom, Mike, Lydia, and Ben into the case. As they investigate, they uncover that Eliza’s fame came not just from stage tricks, but from a psychic connection to a trapped alien entity known as Z’Nar, hidden since the 1980s in a mirror she used for illusions.
Using a combination of Sarah Jane’s scientific tools and Lydia’s quick-thinking with a cracked mirror trap, the team isolates Z’Nar’s consciousness. Rather than destroy it, Ben offers it a new home: a blank crystal drive in Mr. Smith’s interface, where it can exist without harm.
The final scene: snow falls, Z’Nar’s final illusion, a Christmas morning with Eliza and Diana reunited, fades gently, as the team gathers around the tree
Series 7 of the Sarah Jane Mysteries was another popular series in the show, Series 8 was originally intended to air in the summer of 2011. However Elisabeth Sladen sadly passed away, and so Series 8 was left unmade out of respect. The original plans for Series 8 would’ve seen the return of more classic monsters, Jo Jones and Santiago and the departure of Ashley but she’d still be a recurring character.
Overall, the Sarah Jane Mysteries was recognised as possibly Doctor Who’s successful spinoff show with Sladen being reintroduced to a brand new generation and becoming, probably, Doctor Who’s most popular companion.
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